Communication apparatus

ABSTRACT

This communication apparatus makes it possible to have a non-contact charging module and a sheet antenna coexist, even in the case where there the non-contact charging module and the sheet antenna in the communication apparatus. The apparatus is provided with: a housing; a secondary-side non-contact charging module, which is housed in the housing, receives power by means of electromagnetic induction, and has a first coil having a conducting wire wound thereon, and a first magnetic sheet facing the first coil; and an NFC antenna, which is housed in the housing, and has a second coil having a conducting wire wound thereon, and a second magnetic sheet facing the second coil. The secondary-side non-contact charging module and the NFC antenna are not laminated to each other.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a communication apparatus including aplurality of plane coils and, more particularly, to a communicationapparatus including non-contact charging modules and an antenna for nearfield communication.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, communication apparatuses such as portable terminalapparatuses have been provided with a sheet antenna for near fieldcommunication. As the sheet antenna, an NFC (Near Field Communication)antenna or the like is known, for example, which employs an RFID (RadioFrequency IDentification) technique and uses a radio wave in a 13.56 MHzband (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).

Recently, a communication apparatus has also been proposed, whichincludes a non-contact charging module mounted thereon and is configuredto be charged in a non-contact manner. In this charging system, a coilfor power transmission and a coil for power reception are provided on acharger side and on a communication apparatus side, respectively, andelectric power is transmitted from the charger side to the communicationapparatus side using electromagnetic induction between both the coils(see, for example, Patent Literature 2).

As described above, in the communication apparatus, near fieldcommunication is enabled by the sheet antenna and non-contact chargingis also enabled by the non-contact charging module,

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

-   PTL 1-   Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-214754-   PLT 2-   Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-42519

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

In general, a reception-side non-contact charging module and a sheetantenna include coils and magnetic sheets. When non-contact charging isperformed, aligning of a transmission-side non-contact charging module(a primary-side) and the reception-side non-contact charging module (asecondary-side) is performed. In general, the aligning of the modules isperformed using the magnetic sheets or the coils. For this reason, whenthe aligning is not successful and the transmission-side non-contactcharging module is misaligned with the sheet antenna, the problem isthat transmission efficiency of the non-contact charging isdeteriorated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a communicationapparatus that can suppress deterioration in transmission efficiency ofnon-contact charging even when a non-contact charging module and an NFCantenna are present in the communication apparatus.

Solution to Problem

A communication apparatus according to the present invention includes: ahousing; a non-contact module housed in the housing and configured toreceive electric power through electromagnetic induction, thenon-contact module including a first coil composed of a wound electricalline and a first magnetic sheet facing the first coil; and a sheetantenna housed in the housing and including a second coil composed of awound electrical line and a second magnetic sheet facing the secondcoil. The non-contact charging module and the sheet antenna are notstacked.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to embodiments of the claimed communication apparatus, sincehollow portions of the first and second coils face each other, it ispossible to suppress an error in aligning for non-contact charging andthe first coil tends to receive a magnetic flux. Therefore, it ispossible to suppress deterioration in efficiency of power transmissionof the non-contact charging.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an assembled perspective view of a portable terminalapparatus in an embodiment of the present invention in the case where asecondary-side non-contact charging module is disposed between an NFCantenna and a battery pack;

FIG. 1B is an assembled perspective view of the portable terminalapparatus in the embodiment of the present invention in the case wherethe NFC antenna is disposed between the secondary-side non-contactcharging module and the battery pack;

FIG. 1C is an assembled perspective view of the portable terminalapparatus in the embodiment of the present invention in the case wherethe secondary-side non-contact charging module is not stacked on the NFCantenna;

FIG. 1D is an assembled perspective view of the portable terminalapparatus in the embodiment of the present invention in the case wherethe NFC antenna is a stick type;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a non-contact power transmittingapparatus in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a non-contactcharger in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a primary-side non-contact charging modulein the embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A to 5D are detailed diagrams showing the primary-sidenon-contact charging module in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A to 7D are detailed diagrams showing the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A to 8D are diagrams showing a relation between the primary-sidenon-contact charging module including a magnet and the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a relation between the inner diameter of acoil and an L value of the coil;

FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic diagrams showing a positional relationof a magnet included in the other non-contact charging module thatperforms power transmission with a non-contact charging module in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A to 11E are conceptual diagrams of a magnetic sheet of thenon-contact charging module in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a relation between an L value and thethickness of a center portion of a coil of the non-contact chargingmodule in the case where a magnet is used for aligning in the othernon-contact charging module and the case where the magnet is not used inpresent embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the NFC antenna in the embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 14 is a structural sectional view of the NFC antenna in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of a coil section of the stick-type NFCantenna in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram of the stick-type NFC antenna in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 20 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 21 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of thenon-contact charging modules and the NFC antenna in the embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 23 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 24 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of thenon-contact charging modules and the NFC antenna in the embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a first example of a coil shape in anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a second example of the coil shape in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a third example of the coil shape in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a conceptual diagram showing lines of magnetic forcegenerated from the NFC antenna and the secondary-side non-contactcharging module shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a positional relation between an NFCantenna and a metal plate in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 30A and 30B are diagrams showing arrangement in a housing of thesecondary-side non-contact charging module and the NFC antenna in theembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the arrangement of a secondary-sidenon-contact charging module and an NFC antenna in the embodiment;

FIGS. 32A to 32C are diagrams showing a lower housing and thesecondary-side non-contact charging module in the embodiment; and

FIGS. 33A and 33B are diagrams showing the lower housing, a cameramodule, and the secondary-side non-contact charging module in theembodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A communication apparatus according to the present invention includes: ahousing; a non-contact charging module housed in the housing andconfigured to receive electric power through electromagnetic induction,the non-contact charging module including a first coil composed of awound electrical line and a first magnetic sheet facing the first coil;and a sheet antenna housed in the housing and including a second coilcomposed of a wound electrical line and a second magnetic sheet facingthe second coil. The non-contact charging module and the sheet antennaare not stacked.

Embodiment 1 Description of a Communication Apparatus

An overview of a communication apparatus in an embodiment of the presentinvention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1D. FIG.1A is an assembled perspective view of a portable terminal apparatus inan embodiment of the present invention in the case where asecondary-side non-contact charging module is disposed between an NFCantenna and a battery pack. FIG. 1B is an assembled perspective view ofa portable terminal apparatus in the embodiment of the present inventionin the case where the NFC antenna is disposed between the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module and the battery pack. FIG. 1C is anassembled perspective view of the portable terminal apparatus in theembodiment of the present invention in the case where the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module is not stacked on the NFC antenna. FIG. 1Dis an assembled perspective view of the portable terminal apparatus inthe embodiment of the present invention in the case where the NFCantenna is a stick type. In FIGS. 1A to 1D, to facilitate understanding,the fronts and the backs of the secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule and the NFC antenna are set in the opposite directions. That is,in the secondary-side non-contact charging module and the NFC antenna,coils rather than magnetic sheets would essentially be disposed on lowerhousing 105 a side.

Portable terminal apparatus 100, which is an example of a communicationapparatus, includes liquid crystal panel (display) 101, operation button(an input unit) 102, substrate 103, battery pack 104, and housing 105(lower housing 105 a and upper housing 105 b) and further includessecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51.Portable terminal apparatus 100 can perform near field communicationusing NFC antenna 51 and can be charged in a non-contact manner bysecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Of course, a function ofperforming call, electronic mail, or the like other than the near fieldcommunication may be added to portable terminal apparatus 100. Thedisplay is not limited to liquid crystal panel 101 and may employ asystem different from the liquid crystal panel, such as an organic ELdisplay. In present embodiment, a largest control substrate (a mainsubstrate) is referred to as substrate 103

Liquid crystal panel 101 is provided in upper housing 105 b. Liquidcrystal panel 101 is a display unit that displays an image, a movingimage, or the like. Liquid crystal panel 101 is provided on the samesurface as operation button 102 in upper housing 105 b.

Operation button 102 is a button for operating portable terminalapparatus 100. A user can operate portable terminal apparatus 100 bypressing operation button 102. For example, the user can use operationbutton 102 to perform input of a telephone number of a counterpart,creation of a text of an electronic mail, or the like. Operation button102 need not be an operation button of a mechanical structure as in thepresent embodiment. Liquid crystal panel 101 may be a touch panel andmay employ a soft key with which the user can operate portable terminalapparatus 100 by touching liquid crystal panel 101.

Substrate 103 is provided on the rear surface of upper housing 105 b inwhich liquid crystal panel 101 (or operation button 102) is provided. Onsubstrate 103, circuit components for performing control of portableterminal apparatus 100, for example, receives information input fromoperation button 102 and displays necessary information on the liquidcrystal panel. Substrate 103 has a shape such as a substantial squareshape, a substantial rectangular shape, or a substantial L shape.However, substrate 103 is not limited to such shapes and may have anyother polygonal shape.

Battery pack 104, which is an example of an electricity storing unit,can store electricity and supply electric power to portable terminalapparatus 100 (e.g., liquid crystal panel 101 or substrate 103). Thatis, portable terminal apparatus 100 is driven by electric power storedin battery pack 104.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module (reception-side non-contactcharging module) 42 is supplied with electric power from a primary-sidenon-contact charging module (a transmission-side non-contact chargingmodule) described below using electromagnetic induction and transmitsthe received electric power to battery pack 104. Consequently, batterypack 104 can be charged without being directly connected to anon-contact charger (details are described below) mounted with theprimary-side non-contact charging module.

NFC antenna 51, which is an example of a sheet antenna, is used as anantenna for near field communication. NFC antenna 51 can also performcommunication by performing transmission and reception usingelectromagnetic induction. The sheet antenna is not limited to NFCantenna 51 and only has to be an antenna of a magnetic field type thatincludes a plane coil and performs communication using a magnetic field.Driving power of NFC antenna 51 is obtained from a communicationcounterpart by electromagnetic induction in some case and is obtainedfrom battery pack 104 in portable terminal apparatus 100 in other cases.

In housing 105, substrate 103, battery pack 104, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, and NFC antenna 51 are housed.

A camera unit is sometimes housed in housing 105. Photographingdirection of the camera unit is substantially the same as a powertransmitting direction (a charging direction) of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 or a communication direction of NFCantenna 51 and is a direction apart from housing 105 on the rear surface(lower housing 105 a that is the surface opposite to liquid crystalpanel 101) side of housing 105. Therefore, photographing is difficult ifa component is interposed between the camera unit and lower housing 105a. It is possible to maintain high power transmission efficiency bybringing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 as close aspossible to primary-side non-contact charging module 41 (see FIG. 3).That is, it is necessary to place secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 as close as possible to lower housing 105 a. Further, it isalso necessary to place NFC antenna 51 close to lower housing 105 a inorder to secure a large communication distance of NFC communication.

In portable terminal apparatus 100 described above, in FIGS. 1A and 1B,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed to be placed one on top of the other. Consequently, it ispossible to suppress an alignment error for non-contact charging. Thatis, it is possible to suppress deterioration in power transmissionefficiency of the non-contact charging.

In FIG. 1C, in portable terminal apparatus 100, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is not disposed in the communicationdirection of NFC antenna 51. NFC antenna 51 is not disposed in thecharging direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.Consequently, in portable terminal apparatus 100, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are allowed to coexistwith each other.

In FIG. 1D, portable terminal apparatus 100, which is an example of acommunication apparatus, includes liquid crystal panel (display) 101,operation button (input unit) 102, substrate 103, which is, for example,a metal body, battery pack 104, and housing 105 (lower housing 105 a andupper housing 105 b) and further includes secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 151. The control substrate and metalbody 103 may be separate. That is, a communication range of NFC antenna151 of the present invention depends on an arrangement relation betweenthe metal body and NFC antenna 151. Therefore, when only substrate 103,which is not a metal body, is provided, it is difficult to expand thecommunication range of NFC antenna 151. In the present embodiment, metalbody 103 will be described as a control substrate. However, thecommunication range of NFC antenna 151 may be expanded using analternative metal body of portable terminal apparatus 100, other thanmetal body 103.

In portable terminal apparatus 100, housing 105 is a hexahedron, thebottom surface of which is substantially rectangular. Housing 105 isformed thin in a stack direction of lower housing 105 a and upperhousing 105 b. In the present embodiment, NFC antenna 151 is disposed onone end portion 105 c side on the short side of the rectangular bottomsurface. Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed onthe other end portion 105 d side on the short side of the bottomsurface. Battery pack 104 is disposed on the other end portion 105 dside.

NFC antenna 151 is placed on lower housing 105 a. A terminal extendsfrom metal body 103 to NEC antenna 151. Therefore, NFC antenna 151 isconnected to metal body 103 by fitting lower housing 105 a and upperhousing 105 b together. Of course, NFC antenna 151 may be placed onmetal body 103. NFC antenna 151 may be disposed on upper housing 105 bside of metal body 103. This is because NFC antenna 151 of the presentinvention can generate a magnetic flux on the opposite side around metalbody 103. This will be described in detail below.

With the structure described above, portable terminal apparatus 100 canbe mounted with both of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 151.

Before describing a reason why secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 151 can be allowed to coexist with each other,the non-contact power transmitting apparatus (including secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42), NFC antenna 51 (the sheet antenna), andNFC antenna 151 (the stick type) are described. In the followingdescription, the non-contact power transmitting apparatus will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 2 to 9, NFC antenna 51 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14, and NFC antenna 151 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16.

[Description of System of Non-Contact Charging Module]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a non-contact power transmittingapparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The non-contact power transmitting apparatus includes primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 (transmission-side non-contact chargingmodule) and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42(reception-side non-contact charging module). The non-contact powertransmitting apparatus transmits power from primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42using an electromagnetic induction action. The non-contact powertransmitting apparatus is used in transmitting power of about 1 W toabout 5 W or less. The frequency of power transmission is about 110 to205 kHz. Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is mounted to acharger and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is mounted to,for example, a mobile phone, a digital camera, or a personal computer(PC).

Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is constituted by includingprimary-side coil 2 a, primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a, resonancecapacitor (not illustrated), and power input section 71. Power inputsection 71 is connected to commercial power supply 300 functioning as anexternal power supply, receives power of about 100 to 240 V, convertsthe power into a first predetermined current (direct current 12 V, 1 A),and supplies the current to primary-side coil 2 a. Primary-side coil 2 agenerates a magnetic field according to the shape thereof, the windingnumber thereof, and the supplied current. The resonance capacitor isconnected to primary-side coil 2 a. The resonance frequency of themagnetic field generated from primary-side coil 2 a is determinedaccording to the resonance capacitor with primary-side coil 2 a. Theelectromagnetic induction action from primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is performedby the resonance frequency.

Meanwhile, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 includessecondary-side coil 2 b, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b, resonancecapacitor (not illustrated), rectifying circuit 72, and power outputsection 82. Secondary-side coil 2 b converts the magnetic fieldgenerated from primary-side coil 2 a into a second predetermined currentby the electromagnetic induction action, and outputs the current to theoutside of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 throughrectifying circuit 72 and power output section 82. Rectifying circuit 72rectifies the second predetermined current which is an alternatingcurrent and converts the current into a third predetermined currentwhich is a direct current (direct current 5 V, 1.5 A). Power outputsection 82 is an external output section of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. Secondary-side coil 2 b supplies power to batterypack 104 connected to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42through power output section 82. Consequently, battery pack 104 ischarged (electricity is stored in battery pack 104). The resonancecapacitor of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 may beprovided on secondary-side non-contact module 42 or may be mounted tosubstrate 103 in portable terminal apparatus 100. When the resonancecapacitor is mounted to substrate 103, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and the resonance capacitor are preferably disposedat a short distance. That is, substrate 103 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 are preferably disposed at a shortdistance, for example, stacked one on top of the other.

Next, the case where primary-side non-contact charging module 41 ismounted to a non-contact charger will be described.

[Description of Non-Contact Charger]

FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram illustrating the configuration of anon-contact charger according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

Non-contact charger 400 has primary-side non-contact charging module 41in a case constituting an exterior package.

Non-contact charger 400 has plug 401 that can be plugged into outlet 301of commercial power supply 300 disposed indoors or outdoors. By pluggingplug 401 into outlet 301, non-contact charger 400 can receive power fromcommercial power supply (not shown).

Non-contact charger 400 is disposed on desk 501 and primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 is disposed in the vicinity of chargingsurface 402 of the side opposite to the side of a desk surface ofnon-contact charger 400. A principal surface of coil 21 a inprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 is disposed in parallel tocharging surface 402 of the side opposite to the side of the desksurface of non-contact charger 400. In this way, a power reception workarea of the electronic apparatus mounted with secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 can be secured. Non-contact charger 400 may bedisposed on a wall surface. In this case, non-contact charger 400 isdisposed in the vicinity of a surface of the side opposite to the sideof the wall surface.

Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 may have magnet 30 a that isused in aligning with secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Inthis case, magnet 30 a is disposed in a hollow portion that ispositioned at a center area of coil 21 a.

[Description of Non-Contact Charging Module]

Next, primary-side non-contact charging module 41 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the primary-side non-contact chargingmodule according to the embodiment of the present invention andillustrating the case where the primary-side coil is circular. ThoughFIG. 4 illustrates the primary-side coil as a circular coil, theprimary-side coil may be a rectangular coil. The primary-sidenon-contact charging module described in detail hereinafter is basicallyapplied to the secondary-side non-contact charging module. Thedifference of the primary-side non-contact charging module and thesecondary-side non-contact charging module will be described below.

Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 includes primary-side coil 2a where electrical lines are wound in a spiral shape and primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a that is provided to face a surface of coil 21 a ofprimary-side coil 2 a.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, primary-side coil 2 a includes coil 21 a thatis wound in a spiral shape on a single surface and terminals 22 a and 23a that function as current supplying sections provided on both ends ofcoil 21 a. The current from commercial power supply 300 which is theexternal power is supplied to primary-side coil 2 a through theseterminals 22 a and 23 a. A surface that is formed by the electricallines in coil 21 a is called a coil surface. The thickness direction isa stack direction of primary-side coil 2 a and primary-side magneticsheet 3 a.

Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a includes flat portion 31 a that placesprimary-side coil 2 a, center portion 32 a that is a center portion offlat portion 31 a and corresponds to a hollow area of coil 21 a, andlinear concave portion 33 a that inserts a part of a leading line ofcoil 21 a, Center portion 32 a may be formed in a convex shape, a flatshape, a concave shape, or a through-hole with respect to flat portion31 a. When center portion 32 a is formed in the convex shape, themagnetic flux of coil 21 a can be intensified. When center portion 32 ais formed in the flat shape, primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is easilymanufactured, coil 21 a is easily placed on primary-side magnetic sheet3 a, and the influence of a magnet for aligning described below and an Lvalue of coil 21 a can be balanced. Center portion 32 a formed in theconcave shape and the through-hole will be described below.

In primary-side non-contact charging module 41 according to the presentembodiment, coil 21 a is wound in a doughnut shape from an innerdiameter where a diameter is 20 mm to the outside and an outer diameterof the primary-side coil becomes 30 mm. Coil 21 a may be wound in acircular shape and may be wound in a polygonal shape.

By winding the electrical lines to leave a space, the floating capacitybetween the electrical line of an upper stage and the electrical line ofa lower stage decreases and alternating-current resistance of coil 21 acan be suppressed to a minimum. In addition, the thickness of coil 21 acan be suppressed by winding the electrical lines densely.

Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 may have magnet 30 a that isused in aligning with secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Ashape of magnet 30 a is defined to a circular shape and a diameterthereof is defined to 15.5 mm or less by the standard (WPC: WirelessPower Consortium). Magnet 30 a has a coin shape and needs to be disposedsuch that a center thereof is matched with a winding center axis ofprimary-side coil 2 a. This is to decrease an influence of magnet 30 awith respect to primary-side coil 2 a.

As a method of aligning of primary-side non-contact charging module 41and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, for example, thefollowing methods are used. As an example, a method in which a convexportion is formed in a charging surface of a charger, a concave portionis formed in an electronic apparatus of the secondary-side, the convexportion is fitted into the concave portion, and thereby compulsoryaligning is physically (geometrically) performed, is used. A method inwhich a magnet is mounted to at least one of an electronic apparatus ofthe primary-side and an electronic apparatus of the secondary-side, andthereby the magnets of both sides, or one magnet and the other magneticsheet attract each other to perform aligning, is used. A method in whichan electronic apparatus of the primary-side detects a position of a coilof an electronic apparatus of the secondary-side to, automatically movea coil of the electronic apparatus of the primary-side to the positionof the coil of the electronic apparatus of the secondary-side, is used.A method in which a plurality of coils are provided in a charger suchthat an electronic apparatus is chargeable in any place of a chargingsurface of the charger, is used.

As such, the various methods that are used in aligning of the coils ofthe primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 are described. However, the methods aredivided into methods performed with the magnet and methods performedwithout the magnet. In addition, by configuring the primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 to be adapted to both of thesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 with the magnet and thesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 without the magnet,charging can be performed regardless of a type of the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. Therefore, convenience is improved.Likewise, by configuring the secondary-side non-contact charging module42 to be adapted to both of the primary-side non-contact charging module41 with the magnet and the primary-side non-contact charging module 41without the magnet, charging can be performed regardless of a type ofthe primary-side non-contact charging module 41. Therefore, convenienceis improved. That is, as a method of aligning of non-contact chargingmodule that performs power transmission by the electromagnetic inductionaction and the other non-contact charging module which is a counterpartperforming the power transmission, a method of aligning using the magnetincluded in the other non-contact charging module and a method ofaligning without using the magnet are used.

In the case where primary-side non-contact charging module 41 has magnet30 a, magnet 30 a can be disposed on a top surface of center portion 32a of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a. Magnet 30 a can also be disposedinstead of center portion 32 a of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a. Inthe case, since magnet 30 a is disposed in the hollow area of the coil21 a, a size of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 can bedecreased.

When the magnet is not used in aligning of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42,magnet 30 a illustrated in FIG. 4 is not needed.

An influence of the magnet with respect to power transmission efficiencyof the non-contact charging module will be described here. In general,the magnet is provided in a through-hole formed in the center of thecoil incorporated in at least one of primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Thereby,the magnet of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and the magnetof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, or the magnet ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and primary-side magneticsheet 3 a can be placed closely to each other so as to be as close aspossible, and, at the same time, the primary-side coil and thesecondary-side coil can be placed closely each other. The magnet iscircular. In this case, the diameter of the magnet becomes smaller thanthe inner width of coil 21 a. In the present embodiment, the diameter ofthe magnet is about 15.5 mm (about 10 to 20 mm) and the thickness of themagnet is about 1.5 to 2 mm. A neodymium magnet may be used for themagnet. In this case, the strength of the neodymium magnet may be about75 to 150 mT. In the present embodiment, since an interval of the coilof the primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and the coil of thesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is about 2 to 5 mm,sufficient aligning can be performed by the corresponding magnet.

When the magnetic flux is generated between the primary-side coil andthe secondary-side coil to transmit power, if the magnet exists betweenthe primary-side coil and the secondary-side coil or around theprimary-side coil or around the secondary-side coil, the magnetic fluxextends to avoid the magnet. In this case, the magnetic flux that passesthrough the magnet becomes an eddy current or generates heat in themagnet and is lost. If the magnet is disposed in the vicinity of themagnetic sheet, the permeability of the magnetic sheet in the vicinityof the magnet may be decreased. Therefore, magnet 30 a that is includedin primary-side non-contact charging module 41 may decrease the L valuesof both primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b. As a result,transmission efficiency between the non-contact charging modules may bedecreased.

FIGS. 5A to 5D are detailed diagrams illustrating the primary-sidenon-contact charging module according to the embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 5A is a top view of the primary-side non-contactcharging module and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along theline A-A of the primary-side non-contact charging module in FIG. 5A.FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of theprimary-side non-contact charging module in FIG. 5A in the case where alinear concave portion is provided. FIG. 5D is a cross-sectional viewtaken along the line B-B of the primary-side non-contact charging modulein FIG. 5A in the case where a slit is provided. FIGS. 5A and 5Billustrate the case where magnet 30 a is not included. In FIGS. 5A and5B, When magnet 30 a is included, magnet 30 a is illustrated by a dottedline.

Coil 21 a achieves decreasing the thickness of non-contact charger 400mounted with primary-side non-contact charging module 41. For thisreason, an area from a winding starting portion positioned in a centerarea of coil 21 a to terminal 23 a is configured as two stages in thethickness direction and the remaining area is configured as one stage.At this time, in coil 21 a, by winding the electrical line of the upperstage and the electrical line of the lower stage to leave a space, thefloating capacity between the electrical line of the upper stage and theelectrical line of the lower stage decreases, and thealternating-current resistance of coil 21 a can be suppressed to aminimum.

When the electrical lines are stacked and coil 21 a is extended in thethickness direction of primary-side non-contact charging module 41, theamount of current that flows to primary-side coil 2 a can be increasedby increasing the winding number of coil 21 a. In coil 21 a, when theelectrical lines are stacked, by densely winding the electrical line ofthe upper stage and the electrical line of the lower stage, thethickness of coil 21 a is suppressed, and the amount of current flowingto primary-side coil 2 a can be increased.

In the present embodiment, coil 21 a is formed using the electricallines having a circular cross-sectional shape. However, the electricallines that have a rectangular cross-sectional shape may be used. Whenthe electrical lines having the circular cross-sectional shape are used,gaps are generated between the electrical lines adjacent to each other.For this reason, the floating capacity between the electrical linesdecreases and the alternating-current resistance of coil 21 a can besuppressed to a minimum.

Winding coil 21 a in one stage in the thickness direction, instead ofwinding coil 21 a in two stages in the thickness direction results indecrease of the alternating-current resistance of coil 21 a andtransmission efficiency can be increased. This is because the floatingcapacity is generated between the electrical line of the upper stage andthe electrical line of the lower stage, if the electrical lines arewound in the two stages. Therefore, it is preferable to wind most of theparts of coil 21 a in one stage, instead of winding all of the parts ofcoil 21 a in two stages. By winding coil 21 a in one stage, primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 can be formed to have the smallthickness. When primary-side coil 2 a is configured by the twoelectrical lines, the two electrical lines are electrically connected bysolder and the like in portions of terminals 22 a and 23 a. For thisreason, the two electrical lines may be configured as one thickelectrical line. The two electrical lines may be wound in parallel tothe coil surface and may be wound vertically to the coil surface. Thatis, when the two electrical lines are parallel to the coil surface, thetwo electrical lines are wound around the same center in a planar shapeand one electrical line is inserted into the other electrical line inthe radial direction. As such, the two electrical lines are bonded inthe portions of terminals 22 a and 23 a to function as one electricalline, and the thickness can be suppressed even though the electricallines have the same cross-sectional area. That is, the cross-sectionalarea of the electrical line where the diameter is 0.25 mm can beobtained by preparing two electrical lines where the diameter is 0.18mm. Therefore, if one electrical line where the diameter is 0.25 mm isprepared, the thickness of one turn of coil 21 a is 0.25 mm and thewidth of coil 21 a in the radial direction is 0.25 mm. However, if twoelectrical lines where the diameter is 0.18 mm are prepared, thethickness of one turn of coil 21 a is 0.18 mm and the width of coil 21 ain the radial direction is 0.36 mm. The thickness direction is a stackdirection of primary-side coil 2 a and primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a.Only parts of the center side of coil 21 a may overlap in two stages inthe thickness direction and the remaining part of the outside may beconfigured as one stage. In the case where the electrical lines arewound vertically to the coil surface, the thickness of the non-contactcharging module increases. However, the cross-sectional area of theelectrical line increase substantially, the amount of current that flowsto primary-side coil 2 a can be increased, and the sufficient windingnumber can be easily secured. In the present embodiment, primary-sidecoil 2 a is configured by the electrical lines having the diameter ofabout 0.18 to 0.35 mm. In primary-side coil 2 a of primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41, the electrical lines having the diameterof 0.25 to 0.35 mm are preferable.

The loss in coil 21 a can be prevented by decreasing thealternating-current resistance of coil 21 a and power transmissionefficiency of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 that dependson the L value can be improved by improving the L value.

In the present embodiment, coil 21 a is formed in an annular shape(circular shape). A shape of coil 21 a is not limited to the annularshape (circular shape) and may be an elliptical shape, a rectangularshape, and a polygonal shape. If aligning of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 isconsidered, the shape of coil 21 a is preferably the annular shape(circular shape). This reason is as follows. When the shape of coil 21 ais the annular shape (circular shape), because transmission/reception ofpower can be performed over a wider range, aligning of coil 21 a ofprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 and coil 21 b ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 can be easily performed.That is, since transmission/reception of the power can be performed overa wider range, it is difficult that secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 receives an influence of an angle with respect to primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41.

Terminals 22 a and 23 a may be placed closely each other and may beapart from each other. When terminals 22 a and 23 a are apart from eachother, primary-side non-contact charging module 41 may be easilymounted.

Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is provided to improve powertransmission efficiency of non-contact charging using theelectromagnetic induction action, and includes flat portion 31 a, centerportion 32 a that is a center and corresponds to an inner diameter ofcoil 21 a, and linear concave portion 33 a. When magnet 30 a is providedto perform aligning of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42, magnet 30 a may bedisposed above center portion 32 a and may be disposed at the positioninstead of center portion 32 a.

As primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a, a ferrite sheet of the Ni—Zn system,a ferrite sheet of the Mn—Zn system, and a ferrite sheet of the Mg—Znsystem and the like may be used. Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a may beconfigured as a single layer, may be configured by stacking a pluralityof sheets made of the same material in the thickness direction, and maybe configured by stacking a plurality of different magnetic sheets inthe thickness direction. Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is preferablyconfigured such that the permeability is 250 or more and the saturationmagnetic flux density is 350 mT or more.

An amorphous metal may be used as primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a. Whenthe ferrite sheet is used as primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a, it isadvantageous that the alternating-current resistance of coil 21 a can bedecreased, and when the amorphous metal is used as magnetic sheet, thethickness of coil 21 a can be decreased.

Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a used in primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 has a size fit in the size within about 50×50 mm andhas thickness equal to or smaller than about 3 mm. In the presentembodiment, primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a has a substantial squareshape and a size of about 33 mm×33 mm. Primary-side magnetic sheet 3 ais desirably formed in the same size as coil 21 a or larger than coil 21a. The shape of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a may be a circular shape,a rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, or substantially a rectangularshape or a polygonal shape including thick curves at four corners.

Linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a house the electrical lines fromthe innermost portion of coil 21 a to terminal 23 a. Consequently, it ispossible to prevent the electrical lines from the innermost portion ofcoil 21 a to terminal 23 a from overlapping in the thickness directionof coil 21 a and suppress the thickness of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41. It is possible to suppress occurrence of a leakmagnetic flux by setting the size of linear concave portion 33 a or slit34 a to minimum size for housing the electrical lines from the innermostportion of coil 21 a to terminal 23 a. The sectional shape of linearconcave portion 33 a is not limited to a rectangular shape and may be anarcuate shape or a rounded shape.

Linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a is substantially perpendicularto the end of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a that one end of linearconcave portion 33 a or slit 34 a crosses and is formed to overlap theexternal shape of center portion 32 a (on a tangent in a circular coilor on a side in a rectangular coil). By fowling linear concave portion33 a or slit 34 a as described above, it is possible to form terminals22 a and 23 a without bending the innermost portion of electrical lines.The length of linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a depends on theinner diameter of coil 21 a. In the case of the present embodiment, thelength is about 15 mm to 20 mm.

Linear concave potion 33 a or slit 34 a may be formed in a portion wherethe end of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a and the outer circumferenceof center portion 32 a are closest to each other. Consequently, it ispossible to minimize a forming area of linear concave portion 33 a orslit 34 a and improve the transmission efficiency of the non-contactpower transmission apparatus. In this case, the length of linear concaveportion 33 a or slit 34 a is about 5 mm to 10 mm. In both thearrangements described above, the inner side end of linear concaveportion 33 a or slit 34 a is connected to center portion 32 a.

Linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a may be disposed in other ways.That is, coil 21 a is desirably formed in a one-stage structure as muchas possible. In that case, in linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a,it is conceivable to form all turns in the radial direction of coil 21 ain the one-stage structure or form a part in the one-stage structure andform the other portions in a two-stage structure. Therefore, one ofterminals 22 a and 23 a can be drawn out from the outer circumference ofcoil 21 a. However, the other has to be drawn out from the inner side.When a wound portion of coil 21 a and a portion from a winding end ofcoil 21 a to terminal 22 a or 23 a always overlap in the thicknessdirection, linear concave portion 33 a or slit 34 a only has to beprovided in the overlapping portion.

When linear concave portion 33 a is used, a through-hole or a slit isnot provided in primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a. Therefore, it ispossible to prevent a magnetic flux from leaking and improve the powertransmission efficiency of primary-side non-contact charging module 41,Meanwhile, when slit 34 a is used, it is easy to form primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a. When linear concave portion 33 a is used, thesectional shape thereof is not limited to a square shape and may be anarcuate shape or a rounded shape.

Next, the influence of a magnet on primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 will bedescribed below. Secondary-side coil 2 b in secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 receives a magnetic field generated by primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and performs power transmission. If amagnet is disposed around primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil2 b, a magnetic field may be generated to avoid the magnet or nomagnetic field that passes through the magnet may be generated. Thepermeability of a portion of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a close tothe magnet may be decreased. That is, the magnetic field may be weakenedby the magnet. Therefore, in order to minimize the magnetic fieldweakened by the magnet, it is necessary to take a measure such as ameasure for increasing the distance between primary-side coil 2 a andsecondary-side coil 2 b and the magnet or including primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a that is less easily affected by the magnet.

Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is used for a fixed terminalas a transmission side of power supply. For this reason, there is roomin an occupied space in the fixed terminal of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41. An electric current flowing to primary-side coil 2 aof primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is large. For thisreason, the insulation properties of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a areimportant. This is because, if primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a isconductive, it is likely that a large current flow through primary-sidecoil 2 a is transmitted to the other components via primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a.

In consideration of the abovementioned points, primary-side magneticsheet 3 a mounted to primary-side non-contact charging module 41 ispreferably a Ni—Zn ferrite sheet (insulative) having the thickness equalto or larger than 400 μm (preferably 600 μm to 1 mm), havingpermeability equal to or higher than 250 as a magnetic characteristic,and magnetic flux saturated density equal to or higher than 350 mT.However, if sufficient insulation treatment is applied to primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a, a Mn—Zn ferrite sheet (conductive) can be usedinstead of the Ni—Zn ferrite sheet.

In primary-side non-contact charging module 41, the L value of coil 21 agreatly changes in the case where magnet 30 a is used as aligning andthe case where magnet 3 a is not used as aligning. That is, if magnet 30a is present in primary-side non-contact charging module 41 or the samemagnet is present in secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, amagnetic flux between the primary-side and secondary-side non-contactcharging modules is prevented. When the magnet is present, the L valueof coil 21 a is greatly decreased. In order to suppress the influence bymagnet 30 a, primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is preferably a highsaturated magnetic flux density material (having saturated magnetic fluxdensity equal to or higher than 350 mT). In the high saturated magneticflux density material, a magnetic flux is less easily saturated even ifa magnetic field is intensified. Therefore, by forming primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a with the high saturated magnetic flux densitymaterial, primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is less easily affected bymagnet 30 a. It is possible to improve the L value of coil 21 a whenmagnet 30 a is used: Therefore, it is possible to decrease the thicknessof primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a.

However, if the permeability of primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a is toolow, the L value of coil 21 a markedly decreases. As a result, theefficiency of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 may bedeteriorated. Therefore, the permeability of primary-side magnetic sheet3 a is at least equal to or higher than 250 and preferably equal to orhigher than 1500. The L value depends on the thickness of primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a as well. The thickness of ferrite sheet 3 only has tobe equal to or larger than 400 μm. Ferrite sheet 3 can decrease thealternating-current resistance of coil 21 a compared with a magneticsheet of amorphous metal. However, ferrite sheet 3 may be amorphousmetal. By using such primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a, even if at leastone of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 includes a magnet, it is possible todecrease the influence of the magnet in primary-side non-contactcharging module 41.

Further, decrease in the thickness is possible by changing the ferritesheet to a Mn—Zn sheet. Specifically, the frequency of electromagneticinduction is defined to about 10 kHz to 200 kHz (e.g., 120 kHz) by thestandard (WPC). The Mn—Zn ferrite sheet has high efficiency in such alow-frequency band. A Ni—Zn ferrite sheet has high efficiency at a highfrequency.

Next, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing secondary-side non-contact charging module42 in the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, asecondary-side coil is a circular coil.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are detailed diagrams showing secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7Ais a top view of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. FIG. 7Bis a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 in FIG. 7A. FIG. 7C is a cross-sectionalview taken along the line D-D of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 in FIG. 7A in the case where a linear concave portion isprovided. FIG. 7D is a cross-sectional view taken along the line D-D ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 in FIG. 7A in the casewhere a slit is provided. In FIGS. 7A and 7B, magnet 30 b is indicatedby a dotted line. However, magnet 30 b does not have to be provided.

FIGS. 6 and 7A to 7D for describing secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 respectively correspond to FIGS. 4 and 5A to 5D for describingprimary-side non-contact charging module 41. Therefore, detaileddescription of members and sections of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is omitted. The configuration of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is substantially the same as primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is different fromprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 in the size and the materialof secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b. Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 bhas a size fit in the size within about 40×40 mm and has thickness equalto or smaller than about 2 mm.

According to this embodiment, the size of primary-side magnetic sheet 3a and the size of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b are different. Thisis because, in general, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 ismounted to a portable electronic apparatus that is required to be small.In the present embodiment, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b has asubstantial square shape and a size of about 33 mm×33 mm. Secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b is desirably formed in the same size as coil 21 b orlarger than coil 21 b. The shape of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 bmay be a circular shape, a rectangular shape, a polygonal shape, orsubstantially a rectangular shape or a polygonal shape including largecurves at four corners.

There is no room in an occupied space in a portable terminal ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 mounted to the portableterminal. For this reason, an electric current flowing to secondary-sidecoil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is smallcompared with an electric current flowing to primary-side coil 2 a.Therefore, the insulation properties of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3b are not much requested compared with primary-side magnetic sheet 3 a.In the present embodiment, secondary-side coil 2 b is formed by anelectric line having a size of about 0.18 to 0.35 mm. In particular,secondary-side coil 2 b is preferably formed by an electric line havinga size of about 0.18 to 0.30 mm.

When an electronic apparatus to which secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is mounted is a cellular phone, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is often disposed between a caseconstituting an exterior package of the cellular phone and a batterypack located on the inside of the case. In general, since the batterypack is an aluminum housing, the battery pack adversely affects powertransmission. This is because an eddy current is generated in adirection for weakening a magnetic flux generated from a coil.Therefore, it is necessary to provide secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 bbetween the housing of the battery pack and secondary-side coil 2 bdisposed on the housing of the battery pack to reduce the influence ofthe battery pack.

According to the above description, a sheet having high permeability andsaturated magnetic flux density is used as secondary-side magnetic sheet3 b. It is necessary to set the L value of secondary-side coil 2 b aslarge as possible. Basically, similar to line primary-side magneticsheet 3 a, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b only has to havepermeability equal to or higher than 250 and saturated magnetic fluxdensity equal to or higher than 350 mT. In the present embodiment, it ispreferable that secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is a sintered body ofMn—Zn ferrite and has permeability equal to or higher than 1500,saturated magnetic flux density equal to or higher than 400, andthickness equal to or larger than about 400 van. However, ifsecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is formed of Ni—Zn ferrite and haspermeability equal to or higher than 250 and saturated magnetic fluxdensity equal to or higher than 350, power transmission withprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 can be performed. Likeprimary-side coil 2 a, secondary-side coil 2 b is wound in a circularshape or a rectangular shape. Aligning of primary-side coil 2 a andsecondary-side coil 2 b may be performed using magnet 30 a provided inprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 or may be performed withoutproviding magnet 30 a in primary-side non-contact charging module 41.

Next, a relation between the size of magnet 30 a and the size of theinner diameter of primary-side coil 2 a will be described. In thefollowing description, magnet 30 a is disposed in primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41. However, the same relation holds whenmagnet 30 b is disposed in secondary-side non-contact charging module42.

FIGS. 8A to 8D are diagrams showing a relation between primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 including the magnet and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. In FIG. 8A, a magnet for aligning isused when the inner width of a coil is small. In FIG. 8B, the magnet foraligning is used when the inner width of the coil is large. In FIG. 8C,the magnet for aligning is not used when the inner width of the coil issmall. In FIG. 8D, the magnet for aligning is not used when the innerwidth of the coil is large. In FIG. 8, primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 including magnet 30 a and secondary-side coil 2 b ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 are described. However,the description of secondary-side coil 2 b is also applied tosecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 including magnet 30 b andprimary-side coil 2 a of primary-side non-contact charging module 41.That is, a plane coil section of a non-contact charging module that canperform aligning and power transmission in both the case where the othernon-contact charging module, which is a counterpart of powertransmission, includes a magnet and the case where the other non-contactcharging module does not include a magnet will be described. FIG. 9 is adiagram showing a relation between the inner diameter of the coil and anL value of the coil.

In FIGS. 8A and 8B, magnet 30 a is housed in a through-hole ofprimary-side coil 2 a. However, the same applies when magnet 30 a ishoused in a through-hole of secondary-side coil 2 b.

Primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b face each other. Incoils 21 a and 21 b, magnetic fields are generated from inner sideportions 211 and 212 as well. Inner side portions 211 and 212 face eachother. Inner side portions 211 and 212 are close to magnet 30 a andeasily adversely affected by magnet 30 a. That is, when a magnet ispresent between primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b oraround primary-side coil 2 a or around secondary-side coil 2 b, magneticfluxes generated between primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2b extend to avoid the magnet. Alternatively, a magnetic flux that passesthrough the magnet among the magnetic fluxes generated betweenprimary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b becomes an eddycurrent or generates heat in the magnet and is lost.

Further, if the magnet is disposed in the vicinity of the magneticsheet, the permeability of the magnetic sheet in the vicinity of themagnet may be decreased. Therefore, magnet 30 a included in primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 may weaken the magnetic fluxes in, inparticular, inner side portion 211 of primary-side coil 2 a and innerside portion 212 of secondary-side coil 2 b. As a result, transmissionefficiency between primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 may be decreased.Therefore, in the case of FIG. 8A, inner side portions 211 and 212easily adversely affected by magnet 30 a may be increased in size.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 8C in which a magnet is not used, since the windingnumber of secondary-side coil 2 b is large, the L value is large. The Lvalue in FIG. 8C and the L value in FIG. 8A are greatly different.Therefore, in a coil having a small inner diameter, the L value isgreatly different in the case where magnet 30 a is provided and the casewhere magnet 30 a is not provided.

As shown in FIG. 8A, when the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 bis smaller than the diameter of magnet 30 a, a portion facing magnet 30a in secondary-side coil 2 b may be adversely affected by magnet 30 a.Therefore, the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b is desirablylarger than the diameter of magnet 30 a.

As shown in FIG. 8B, if the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b islarge, inner side portion 212 easily adversely affected by magnet 30 ais extremely small. In FIG. 8D in which a magnet is not used, since thewinding number of secondary-side coil 2 b is small, the L value is smallcompared with FIG. 8C. As a result, since a difference between the Lvalue in FIG. 8D and the L value in FIG. 8B is small, in a coil having alarge inner diameter, a decreasing rate of the L value can besuppressed. As the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b is larger,inner side portion 212 of secondary-side coil 2 b is farther apart frommagnet 30 a. For this reason, the influence of magnet 30 a can besuppressed.

However, since the non-contact charging module is mounted to a chargeror an electronic apparatus, the non-contact charging module cannot beformed in size equal to or larger than a predetermined size. Therefore,if it is attempted to increase the inner diameter of primary-side coil 2a and the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b to decrease anadverse effect from magnet 30 a, the winding number may decrease and theL value may decrease. When magnet 30 a is circular, the followingoccurs. That is, when the outer diameter of magnet 30 a and the innerdiameter of primary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b) aresubstantially the same (the outer diameter of magnet 30 a is smallerthan the inner diameter of primary-side coil 2 a (or the secondary-sidecoil 2 b) by about 0 to 2 mm), the size of magnet 30 a can be maximized.As a result, it is possible to improve accuracy of aligning ofprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42.

When the outer diameter of magnet 30 a and the inner diameter ofprimary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b) are substantially thesame, the inner diameter of primary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-sidecoil 2 b) can be minimized. As a result, the winding number ofprimary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b) increases and it ispossible to improve the L value. When the outer diameter of magnet 30 ais smaller than the inner diameter of primary-side coil 2 a (orsecondary-side coil 2 b) (the outer diameter of magnet 30 a is smallerthan the inner width of primary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2b) by about 2 to 8 mm), even if the accuracy of aligning fluctuates, itis possible to prevent magnet 30 a from being present between inner sideportion 211 and inner side portion 212.

When the outer diameter of magnet 30 a is 70% to 95% of primary-sidecoil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b), it is possible to sufficientlycope with the fluctuation in the accuracy of aligning. Further, it ispossible to improve the accuracy of aligning of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Itis possible to secure the winding number of primary-side coil 2 a (orsecondary-side coil 2 b). In this case, in a surface parallel toprimary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b), the area of magnet30 a is 70% to 95% of the area of the through-hole in the center ofprimary-side coil 2 a (or secondary-side coil 2 b).

With such a configuration, the fluctuation in the L value decreases inthe case where the other non-contact charging module, which is thecounterpart of power transmission, includes a magnet and the case wherethe other non-contact charging module does not include a magnet. Thatis, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 can efficientlyperform aligning and power transmission with primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 both in the case where primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 includes magnet 30 a and the case wheresecondary-side non-contact charging module 41 does not include magnet 30a. Primary-side non-contact charging module 41 can efficiently performaligning and power transmission with secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 both in the case where secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 includes magnet 30 b and the case where secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 does not include magnet 30 b.

Primary-side coil 2 a forms an LC resonance circuit with a resonancecapacitor in primary-side non-contact charging module 41. When the LCresonance circuit is formed, if the L value greatly changes, theresonance frequency of the resonance capacitor may greatly change. Thisresonance frequency is used for power transmission between primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42. For this reason, if the resonance frequency greatly changesaccording to presence or absence of a magnet, the power transmission maynot be correctly performed. Therefore, it is possible to improve theefficiency of the power transmission by adopting the configuration ofthe present embodiment described above.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, when the size of magnet 30 a and the outerdiameter of secondary-side coil 2 b are fixed, if the winding number ofsecondary-side coil 2 b is decreased and the inner diameter ofsecondary-side coil 2 b is increased, the influence of magnet 30 a onsecondary-side coil 2 b decreases. That is, in the case of FIG. 9, adifference in the L value of secondary-side coil 2 b decreases in thecase where magnet 30 a is used for aligning of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andin the case where magnet 30 a is not used for aligning of primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42. Therefore, in the case of FIG. 9, resonance frequencies inthe case where magnet 30 a is used and in the case where magnet 30 a isnot used are values extremely close to each other. The outer diametersof the coils are unified to 30 mm and the distance between the hollowportion end of primary-side coil 2 a and the outer side end of magnet 30a is set larger than 0 mm and smaller than 6 mm, whereby it is possibleto set the L value in the case where magnet 30 a is used and the L valuein the case where magnet 30 a is not used close to each other whilesetting the L value to 15 μH or larger. The result shown in FIG. 9 alsoapplies to the L value of primary-side coil 2 a of primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 in the case where magnet 30 b is providedin secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are schematic diagrams showing a positional relationof the magnet included in the other non-contact charging module thatperforms power transmission with the non-contact charging module in theembodiment of the present invention, and shows the case where a magnetused for aligning a primary-side non-contact charging module and asecondary-side non-contact charging module is provided in theprimary-side non-contact charging module. FIG. 10A shows the case wherethe secondary-side coil is a rectangular coil and FIG. 10B shows thecase where the secondary-side coil is a circular coil.

At this point, a relation between the magnet and the non-contactcharging module is applied to both of a relation between primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and magnet 30 b provided insecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and a relation betweensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and magnet 30 a providedin primary-side non-contact charging module 41. Therefore, the relationbetween secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and magnet 30 aprovided in primary-side non-contact charging module 41 will bedescribed as an example. However, the description is also applied to therelation between primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and magnet30 b provided in secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is,a non-contact charging module that can suppress the influence of themagnet included in the other non-contact charging module, which is thecounterpart of power transmission, and perform aligning and powertransmission even either in the case where a magnet is included in theother non-contact charging module or the case where a magnet is notincluded in the other non-contact charging module, will be described.

The center of secondary-side coil 2 c shown in FIG. 10A and the centerof secondary-side coil 2 b shown in FIG. 10B are aligned to match thecenter of magnet 30 a for aligning. Even when magnet 30 a is notprovided in primary-side non-contact charging module 41, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 may include a magnet.

Magnet 30 a for aligning has a circular shape having a diameter m andmagnetic sheet 52 has a square shape. Magnetic sheet 52 may have apolygonal shape, a rectangular shape, or a shape having curves atcorners other than a square shape. However, the square shape ispreferable to decrease the size of primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 while securing the performance of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41.

Magnet 30 a for aligning is standardized and proposed in usingnon-contact charging modules 41 and 42. Magnet 30 a is used to ensurepower transmission between non-contact charging module 41 andnon-contact charging module 42 and to perform center aligning oftransmission and reception coils.

When circular secondary-side coil 2 c or circular secondary-side coil 2b having the same winding number is set on magnetic sheet 52 having thesame size, both the coils fit in magnetic sheet 52 having the same area.That is, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, when rectangular secondary-sidecoil 2 c or circular secondary-side coil 2 b having the same windingnumber is disposed on magnetic sheet 52 having the length of one side,shortest distance y1 between oppose inner sides of rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 c and inner diameter y2 of circular secondary-sidecoil 2 b can be set to the same length.

Meanwhile, diagonal line length x on the inner side of rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 c is length x that is longer than shortestdistance y1 between the opposed inner sides of rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 b, which is the same length as inner diameter y2of circular secondary-side coil 2 b. That is, in rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 c, an area where a large space between magnet 30 afor aligning and secondary-side coil 2 c can be secured increasescompared with circular secondary-side coil 2 b. That is, there is arelation x>y1 and y1=y2.

In order to suppress the influence of the magnet included inprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 or secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, the rectangular coil needs to have arelation x>=m and preferably y1>=m.

When the space between secondary-side coil 2 b or 2 c and magnet 30 afor aligning increases, because the influence of aligning magnet 30 adecreases, a decreasing rate of the L value of secondary-side coil 2 bor 2 c can be reduced. If the secondary-side coil is rectangular, whendiagonal line dimension x on the inner side of secondary-side coil 2 cis a value same as inner diameter dimension y2 of circularsecondary-side coil 2 b, the decreasing rate of the L value ofsecondary-side coil 2 c is a value substantially same as secondary-sidecoil 2 b.

For this reason, when a space of non-contact charger 400 in whichprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 is housed has a square shapeand the space is limited, it is preferable to form magnetic sheet 52 ina square shape and form secondary-side coil 2 c in a rectangular shape.Consequently, compared with the circular coil, rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 c can be disposed further apart from magnet 30 a.Rectangular secondary-side coil 2 c is less easily affected by magnet 30a. In rectangular secondary-side coil 2 c, magnetic fluxes concentrateat corner portions of secondary-side coil 2 c. However, since thedistance between the corner portions and magnet 30 a can be securedlarge, it is possible to reduce the influence of magnet 30 a.

That is, when secondary-side coil 2 b is wound in a circular shape,entire secondary-side coil 2 b shows substantially the same intensity ofmagnetic fields. However, when secondary-side coil 2 c is wound in asubstantially rectangular shape, magnetic fields concentrate at cornerportions (corners) of secondary-side coil 2 c. Therefore, if diagonalline dimension x on the inner side of secondary-side coil 2 c is locatedfurther on the outer side than the outer diameter of aligning magnet 30a (x>=m), it is possible to suppress the influence of magnet 30 a andperform power transmission. If shortest distance y1 between the opposedinner sides of secondary-side coil 2 c is located further on the outerside than the outer diameter of aligning magnet 30 a (y1>=m), entiresecondary-side coil 2 c is located further on the outer side than theouter diameter of aligning magnet 30 a. Further, the corner portions(the corners) of secondary-side coil 2 c are located at a fixed distanceapart from magnet 30 a. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce theinfluence of magnet 30 a on secondary-side coil 2 c.

In the present embodiment, diagonal line dimension (x) of rectangularsecondary-side coil 2 c is set to about 23 mm and diameter (m) of magnet30 a for aligning is set to 15.5 mm φ to satisfy the relation describedabove. In general, magnet 30 a for aligning is configured smaller than amaximum diameter set to 15.5 mm. This is because, in view of a decreasein size and accuracy of aligning, it is possible to perform aligning ina well-balanced state by setting the diameter of magnet 30 a to about 10mm to 15.5 mm and setting the thickness of magnet 30 a to about 1.5 to 2mm. Magnet 30 a is a neodymium magnet and the strength thereof may beabout 75 to 150 mT. In the present embodiment, since an interval of thecoil of the primary-side non-contact charging module and the coil of thesecondary-side non-contact charging module is about 2 to 5 mm,sufficient aligning can be performed by the corresponding magnet.Therefore, if secondary-side coil is wound in a circular shape, thediameter of the hollow portion is set to 15.5 mm or more and, ifsecondary-side coil is wound in a rectangular shape, the diagonal lineof the hollow portion is set to 15.5 mm or more and preferably the sidewidth of the hollow portion is set to 15.5 mm or more. Consequently,basically, it is possible to decrease the influence of magnet 30 airrespective of the size of magnet 30 a included on the counter partside.

As described above, the rectangular coil is less easily affected by themagnet than the circular coil. However, if both of secondary-side coil 2b and secondary-side coil 2 b described later are rectangular coils, thecorners of the coils have to be aligned in aligning during charging.Therefore, since the corner aligning in the aligning is difficult, it isdesirable that one is a circular coil and the other is a rectangularcoil. This is because angle adjustment is unnecessary and therectangular coil can suppress the influence of the magnet. Whichever ofprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 may include the rectangular coil andwhichever of the modules may include the circular coil. However, sincethe circular coil can perform efficient power transmission irrespectiveof the shape of a coil, which is a counterpart of power transmission, itis desirable to include the circular coil in primary-side non-contactcharging module 41.

Compared with the circular coil, the rectangular coil refers to a coilin which R of the four corners of the hollow portion (a radius of thecurves at the four corners) is 30% or less of the side width of thehollow portion (y1 in FIG. 10A). That is, in FIG. 10A, the four cornersof the substantially rectangular hollow portion are formed in a curvedshape. Since the four corners are curves more or less rather than rightangles, it is possible to improve the strength of electrical lines atthe four corners. However, if R is too large, the rectangular coil ishardly different from the circular coil and the effects peculiar to therectangular coil cannot be obtained. As a result of the examination, ithas been found that, when side width y1 of the hollow portion is, forexample, 20 mm and if radius R of the curves at the four corners isequal to or smaller than 6 mm, it is possible to more effectivelysuppress the influence of the magnet. Further, as described above, wheneven the strength of the four corners is taken into account, when radiusR of the curves at the four corners is 5 to 30% of the side width of thesubstantially rectangular hollow portion, it is possible to obtain theeffects of the rectangular coil most.

Next, the thickness of the center portions of magnetic sheet 52 will bedescribed.

FIGS. 11A to 11E are conceptual diagrams of a magnetic sheet of anon-contact charging module according to the embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, magnetic sheet 52 that is included insecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is illustrated. FIG. 11Ais a top view of the magnetic sheet of the non-contact charging moduleaccording to the embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 11B is atop view of the magnetic sheet in the case where the position of thelinear concave portion of the magnetic sheet in FIG. 11A is changed.FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view taken along the line E-E of FIG. 11A,and FIG. 11D is a cross-sectional view taken along the line F-F of FIG.11A in the case where the center portion is configured as the concaveportion, and FIG. 11E is a cross-sectional view taken along the line F-Fof FIG. 11A in the case where the center portion is configured as thethrough-hole. Center portion 32 b is the concave portion or thethrough-hole. For example, if center portion 32 b has a convex shape,the magnetic flux density of secondary-side coil 2 b is improved and thetransmission efficiency of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42is improved.

However, by providing the hole portion configured as the concave portionor the through-hole in center portion 32 b, an influence of magnet 30 athat is included in primary-side non-contact charging module 41 can bedecreased. The reason will be described below.

For example, in FIGS. 11A to 11E, magnetic sheet 52 of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 performing power transmission withprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 including magnet 30 a willbe described. However, the description of magnetic sheet 52 ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 as described below isapplied to magnetic sheet 52 of primary-side non-contact charging module41 performing power transmission with secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 including magnet 30 b. That is, a center portion ofthe magnetic sheet of the non-contact charging module that can performaligning and power transmission in both of the case where the othernon-contact charging module which is the counterpart of the powertransmission includes the magnet and the case where the othernon-contact charging module which is the counterpart of the powertransmission does not include the magnet will be described.

As described above, the non-contact power transmitting apparatus may usethe magnet or may not use the magnet in aligning of primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42. The magnetic flux between the primary-side and thesecondary-side non-contact charging modules may be disturbed when themagnet exists. For this reason, the L values of primary-side coil 2 a ofprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-side coil 2 bof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 greatly decrease whenthe magnet exists.

Primary-side coil 2 a forms an LC resonance circuit with a resonancecapacitor, in primary-side non-contact charging module 41. At this time,if the L values greatly change in the case where magnet 30 a is used inaligning and the case where magnet 30 a is not used in aligning, theresonance frequency with the resonance capacitor may greatly change. Theresonance frequency is used in power transmission of primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42. For this reason, if the resonance frequency greatly changesaccording to presence or absence of magnet 30 a, power transmission maynot be correctly performed.

Therefore, in order to make the resonance frequency in the case wheremagnet 30 a is used in aligning similar to the resonance frequency inthe case where magnet 30 a is not used, the L value of secondary-sidecoil 2 b in the case where magnet 30 a is used in aligning and the Lvalue of secondary-side coil 2 b in the case where magnet 30 a is notused in aligning need to be set to similar values.

Next, a relation of the thickness of the center portion of magneticsheet 52 and the L value of secondary-side coil 2 b in the case wheremagnet 30 a is included and in the case where magnet 30 a is notincluded in the primary-side non-contact charging module will bedescribed.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a relation of an L value of a coil ofthe non-contact charging module and the thickness of a center portion inthe case where a magnet is used and in the case where the magnet is notused in aligning in the other non-contact charging module according tothe embodiment of the present invention. As the degree of a hollow, 0%shows a state in which center portion 32 b is not configured as theconcave portion and is flat, and 100% shows a state in which centerportion 32 b is configured as the through-hole.

In the case where magnet 30 a is not used, as the thickness of centerportion 32 b of magnetic sheet 52 decreases, the magnetic field ofsecondary-side coil 2 b decreases and the L value decreases. Meanwhile,in the case where magnet 30 a is used, as the thickness of centerportion 32 b of magnetic sheet 52 decreases, the distance betweenmagnetic sheet 52 and magnet 30 a in a stack direction thereofincreases. For this reason, an influence of magnet 30 a decreases, themagnetic field of secondary-side coil 2 b increases, and the L valueincreases. In the case where center portion 32 b is configured as thethrough-hole, the L values are mostly similar. That is, by configuringcenter portion 32 b as the through-hole, an influence of magnet 30 athat is used in aligning can be suppressed to a minimum.

Since magnet 30 a and magnetic sheet 52 attract each other and performaligning, aligning precision is improved when center portion 32 b hassome thickness. In particular, aligning precision can be stabilized bysetting the hollow degree to 60% or less.

Therefore, if the hollow degree is set to 40 to 60%, the L value ofsecondary-side coil 2 b in the case where magnet 30 a is used inaligning and the case where magnet 30 a is not used in aligning can beset to be similar to each other and an aligning effect of magnet 30 acan be sufficiently obtained. That is, magnet 30 a and center portion 32b of magnetic sheet 52 attract each other and the centers thereof can bealigned.

In the present embodiment, the hollow degree is set to about 50% and theeffects of both sides can be obtained in the most effective way. Inorder to maintain about half of the entire thickness, the through-holemay be filled with the magnetic material up to half the entire depth,after the through-hole is formed. The hole portion (concave portion orthrough-hole) that is provided in center portion 32 b does not need tohave the shape and the size equal to those of center portion 32 a. Eventhough the shape of center portion 32 b, that is, the hollow portion ofthe coil is a substantially rectangular shape or a substantiallycircular shape, the hole portion may have various shapes withoutdepending on the shape thereof. That is, the hole portion may have arectangular shape or a circular shape. The hole portion is preferablyformed to be smaller than center portion 32 b and may secure an area of30% or more of an area of center portion 32 b.

Since magnetic sheet 52 may be formed by stacking a material having thehigh saturation magnetic flux density and a material having the highpermeability, for example, the center portion of the material having thehigh saturation magnetic flux density may be formed to be flat, thethrough-hole may be formed in the center portion of the material havingthe high permeability, and center portions 32 a of magnetic sheet 52 maybe formed in a concave shape. The material having the high saturationmagnetic flux density means a magnetic sheet that has the saturationmagnetic flux density higher than that of the material having the highpermeability and has the permeability lower than that of the materialhaving the high permeability, and may be a ferrite sheet in particular.

The diameter of the concave portion or the through-hole may be smallerthan the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b. By setting thediameter of the concave portion or the through-hole to be substantiallyequal to the inner diameter of secondary-side coil 2 b (smaller than theinner diameter of the coil by 0 to 2 mm), the magnetic field in an innercircumferential circle of secondary-side coil 2 b can be increased.

By setting the diameter of the concave portion or the through-hole to besmaller to the inner diameter of the coil (smaller than the innerdiameter of the coil by 2 to 8 mm) to become a stepped shape, thestepped outer side can be used in aligning and the inner side can beused to make the L values of primary-side coil 2 a in the case wheremagnet 30 a is used in aligning and the case where magnet 30 a is notused in aligning similar to each other. The size of the concave portionor the through-hole may be larger than the size of magnet 30 a. That is,the hole portion may be formed to have the diameter larger than that ofmagnet 30 a and have the size smaller than that of the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b.

By setting the shape of the top surface of the concave portion or thethrough-hole to be equal to the shape of the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b, magnet 30 a and center portion 32 b of magneticsheet 52 can attract with a good balance and the centers thereof can beprecisely aligned.

By configuring all of the ends of the concave portion or thethrough-hole to have the same distance from the inner diameter ofsecondary-side coil 2 b, magnet 30 a and center portion 32 b of magneticsheet 52 can attract with a good balance and the centers thereof can beprecisely aligned.

By matching the center of the shape of the top surface of the concaveportion or the through-hole with the center of the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b, magnet 30 a and center portion 32 b of magneticsheet 52 can attract with a good balance and the centers thereof can beprecisely aligned. By forming the concave portion or the through-hole tobe bigger than magnet 30 a, an influence of magnet 30 a can besuppressed with a good balance.

As described above, the configuration where the center portion isconfigured as the hole portion can be applied to magnetic sheet 52 ofthe primary-side non-contact charging module and the effect is obtainedeven though the hole portion is included in center portion 32 a ofmagnetic sheet 52 of primary-side non-contact charging module 41. Thatis, primary-side non-contact charging module 41 that can performaligning and effective power transmission in both of the case wheresecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 includes magnet 30 b andthe case where secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 does notinclude magnet 30 b can be configured.

Thick portions may be formed in the four corners of magnetic sheet 52and in areas where coils 21 a and 21 b on flat portions 31 a and 31 bare not disposed. That is, none are placed on magnetic sheet 52corresponding to portions that are outer than the outer circumference ofcoils 21 a and 21 b on flat portions 31 a and 31 b in the four cornersof magnetic sheet 52. Therefore, by increasing the thickness of magneticsheet 52 by forming the thick portions in the areas, power transmissionefficiency of the non-contact power transmitting apparatus can beimproved. The thickness of the thick portions is preferably large.However, the thickness of the thick portions is set to be almost equalto the thickness of the electrical lines to decrease the thickness ofthe apparatus.

[Description of NFC Antenna (Sheet Antenna)]

Next, NFC antenna 51 will be described. FIG. 13 is a perspective view ofthe NFC antenna in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is astructural sectional view of the NFC antenna in the embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a cross section takenalong the line E-E of FIG. 13.

NFC antenna 51 includes magnetic sheet 52 containing a ferrite materialas a main component, protective members 57 and 58 disposed to hold themagnetic sheet, (plane) coil 53, matching circuit 54, terminalconnecting section 55, base material 56, and chip capacitors foraligning 60 a and 60 b. NFC antenna 51 may be housed in a radiocommunication medium such as an IC card or an IC tag or may be housed ina radio communication medium processing apparatus such as a reader or areader writer.

Magnetic sheet 52 has a form of configuring an element of NFC antenna51. Magnetic sheet 52 is configured by a metal material such as ferrite,permalloy, Sendust, or silicon plywood. As magnetic sheet 52, softmagnetic ferrite is preferable. A sintered body, i.e., a high-densityferrite sintered body can be fowled by dry-pressing ferrite powder andsintering the ferrite powder. The density of the soft magnetic ferriteis preferably equal to or higher than 3.5 g/cm³. Further, the size of amagnetic body of the soft magnetic ferrite is preferably equal to orlarger than the grain boundary. Magnetic sheet 52 is a sheet-like (orplate-like, film-like, layer-like, etc.) component formed at thicknessof about 0.05 mm to 3 mm.

Coil 53 is an antenna pattern and is formed of a spiral conductor (i.e.,an electric line is wound around). A spiral structure only has to be aspiral shape including an opening portion in the center. The shape maybe either a circular shape, a substantial rectangular shape, or apolygonal shape. By adopting the spiral structure, a sufficient magneticfield is generated to enable communication between the radiocommunication medium and the radio communication medium processingapparatus by generation of induced power and mutual inductance. Magneticsheet 52 can be disposed at least in a portion facing coil 53. In aportion corresponding to the hollow portion of coil 53, a hollow portionmay be formed in magnetic sheet 52. Therefore, other components may bedisposed in the hollow portions of magnetic sheet 52 and coil 53.

Since the surface resistance of magnetic sheet 52 is large, a circuitcan be directly formed on the surface or the inside of magnetic sheet52. Therefore, it is possible to foam coil 53, matching circuit 54, andterminal connecting section 55 directly on magnetic sheet 52.

Matching circuit 54 includes chip capacitors 60 a and 60 b mounted tobridge the spiral conductor of coil 53 formed on base material 56.Consequently, it is possible to form matching circuit 54 on coil 53.

Matching circuit 54 is connected to coil 53 to adjust a resonancefrequency of the antenna to a desired frequency and suppress generationof a standing wave due to mismatching. Consequently, NFC antenna 51 thatoperates stably and has little loss is obtained. Chip capacitors 60 aand 60 b used as matching elements are mounted to bridge the spiralconductor of the antenna.

Since the surface resistance of magnetic sheet 52 is large, terminalconnecting section 55 can be directly formed on the surface of magneticsheet 52. Terminal connecting section 55 may be formed on both sides ofa loop or may be formed to oppose each other at an end of the loop.

Base material 56 can be formed of polyimide, PET, a glass epoxysubstrate, or the like. Thin and flexible coil 53 can be formed byforming base material 56 with polyimide, PET, or the like.

As protective members 57 and 58, at least one means of resin,ultraviolet curing resin, visible light curing resin, thermoplasticresin, thermosetting resin, heat resistant resin, synthetic resin, adouble-sided tape, an adhesive layer, or a film is used. Protectivemembers 57 and 58 are selected taking into account not only flexibilityof bend, deflection, and the like of NFC antenna 51 and componentsincluded in NFC antenna 51 but also weather resistance such as heatresistance and humidity resistance. One surface, both surfaces, one sidesurface, both side surfaces, or entire surfaces of NFC antenna 51 andthe components included in NFC antenna 51 may be coated by protectivemembers 57 and 58.

NFC antenna 51 described above is only an example and is not limited tothe components, the materials, and the like described above.

[Concerning NFC Antenna (Stick Type)]

Next, stick-type NFC antenna 151 will be described.

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of a coil section of the stick-type NFCantenna in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 is aconceptual diagram of the stick-type NFC antenna in the embodiment ofthe present invention.

Stick-type NFC antenna 151 provides a path through which an electriccurrent flows from terminal for antenna input and output 154 (or 155) tothe other terminal for antenna input and output 155 (or 154). A surfacesurrounded by a path of coil section 152 including terminals for antennainput and output 154 and 155 is defined as an opening surface of coilsection 152. Coil section 152 is defined to perform transmission andreception of a signal using a magnetic field generated by an electriccurrent of coil section 152 or using an electric current generated by amagnetic field from the external environment.

That is, in the present embodiment, an antenna apparatus is adjusted tobe capable of transmitting and receiving a radio wave of, for example,RFID, in particular, in the present embodiment, NFC (13.56 MHz).

In the present embodiment, coil section 152 is inserted in one placetogether with core 153 (iron core) halfway in a line between terminalsfor antenna input and output 154 and 155. Core 153 is made of ferrite,metal, or the like.

Coil section 152 is inserted in a position facing terminals for antennainput and output 154 and 155. Consequently, when the antenna apparatusis formed by connecting coil section 152 and terminals for antenna inputand output 154 and 155, coil section 152 can be freely formed. However,coil section 152 is not limited to the opposed position.

Further, when a coil axis of coil section 152 (an axis of winding of acoil) is represented as A₂, as the arrangement of coil section 152, coilaxis A₂ is perpendicular to the opening surface of stick-type NFCantenna 151 and perpendicular to the direction (the direction of C₂) ofan electric current flowing in portions before and after the positionwhere coil section 152 is inserted in the line of NFC antenna 151.

In the present embodiment, coil axis A₂ is perpendicular to the C₂direction. However, coil axis A₂ may not be parallel to the C₂direction.

In the present embodiment, coil section 152 is disposed to beperpendicular to end face B₂ of substrate (metal body) 103 disposed atdistance D₂. Distance D₂ can be any distance (for example, 0 mm to oo.However, as described below, the antenna apparatus has satisfactorycommunication performance at any distance. In FIG. 16, distance D₂ is 4mm.

Magnetic fluxes passing through coil section 152 can be increased byusing a magnetic body for core 153. The magnetic body is preferablebecause communication performance is improved when substrate (metalbody) 103 is placed close to core 153. However, core 153 is not limitedto the magnetic body and may be configured by ceramic, resin, or thelike. In the present embodiment, core 153 is a ferrite core. The size ofcore 153 is 8×20×0.2 mm.

In the present embodiment, the number of turns of the conductor of coilsection 152 is about 2.5 turns. The number of conductors wound aroundthe surface of core 153 facing the metal body (on the surface of core153 facing the metal body, the number of conductors wound on the surfacewhen wound around core 153) is set smaller than the number of conductorswound around the surface on the opposite side of the surface of core 153facing the metal body.

With such a configuration, it is possible to obtain an efficient antennaapparatus with a small number of times of winding.

In FIG. 16, the longitudinal direction of rectangular parallelepipedcore 153 is disposed on the loop of the antenna apparatus. However, theshort side direction of core 153 may be disposed. The shapes of coilsection 152 and core 153 can be freely selected according to a desiredcharacteristic and a space in which the antenna apparatus is mounted.

However, when the short side direction is disposed, coil section 152 isof course wound and formed in the short side direction of core 153.

Magnetic field intensity increases according to an increase in thenumber of times of winding. However, when a rate of increase isconsidered, the magnetic field intensity greatly increases when thenumber of times of winding increases by a half round from an integer.

However, the number of times of winding is not limited. The number oftimes of winding may be larger than or smaller than about 2.5 turnsshown in FIG. 15.

If the number of times of winding is increased or decreased by about 0.5turn than an integer multiple, both ends (connecting sections to theantenna apparatus) of coil section 152 are formed on both sides acrosscore 153. Therefore, it is easy to connect coil section 152 to substrate(metal body) 103, which is the substrate.

That is, since coil section 152 is inserted in a form of replacing alinear portion of a normal loop antenna, it is easy to insert coilsection 152.

A way of winding coil section 152 may be either right winding or leftwinding and can be selected as appropriate according to a position wherecoil section 152 is disposed.

For connection between coil section 152 and terminals for antenna inputand output 154 and 155, a commonly-used connection method such assoldering or connection by a connector can be used. Alternatively, onecontinuous conductor may form coil section 152 to terminals for antennainput and output 154 and 155. As generally known, terminals for antennainput and output 154 and 155 are connected to input and output terminalsof the matching circuit and the IC. As a connection method, acommonly-used connection method such as contact by a pin or a spring,soldering, or connection by a connector can be used.

[Description of Arrangement of Non-Contact Charging Modules and SheetAntenna]

Embodiment 1 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.17. FIG. 17 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in Embodiment 1 of thepresent invention. FIG. 17 is also a diagram conceptually showing across section of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1Ccut in the thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105a and upper housing 105 b). To simplify the description, FIG. 17 doesnot show liquid crystal panel 101, operation button 102, substrate 103,and battery pack 104 and shows an arrangement relation betweensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aresimply shown as only coils and magnetic sheets. In the abovedescription, members including the same components and functions aredenoted by the same reference numerals and signs and detaileddescription of the members is omitted.

First, an overview of portable terminal apparatus 100 and non-contactcharger 400 will be described.

Battery pack 104 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D) in portable terminal apparatus 100is charged via primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Specifically, an electriccurrent flows to secondary-side coil 2 b with a magnetic field generatedby feeding an electric current to primary-side coil 2 a in non-contactcharger 400. Battery pack 104 electrically connected to secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is charged. Consequently, non-contactcharger 400 can charge portable terminal apparatus 100 without beingelectrically connected to portable terminal apparatus 100 in anon-contact manner.

Portable terminal apparatus 100 includes NFC antenna 51 described above.Like primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, NFC antenna 51 obtains electric powerand performs data transmission using electromagnetic induction (magneticfluxes). For example, the driving power of NFC antenna 51 is obtainedfrom battery pack 104 in some case and obtained from a counterpart ofNFC communication in other cases.

According to one embodiment described herein, the communication surfaceof NFC antenna 51 is the rear surface (that is, the surface on the lowerhousing 105 a side). That is, as the structure of NFC antenna 51, coil53 is stacked further on the lower housing 105 a side than magneticsheet 52. Therefore, NFC antenna 51 sets, as a communication direction,the direction on the coil 53 side and the direction on the opposite sideof magnetic sheet 52. In other words, a non-communication direction ofNFC antenna 51 is the direction on the magnetic sheet 52 side and thedirection on the opposite side of coil 53. As described above, NFCantenna 51 sets the rear surface side of housing 105 as thecommunication direction. Communication can be performed by bringing acommunication destination of NFC antenna 51 close to the rear surfaceside.

In the present embodiment, a charging surface of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is the rear surface (the surface on thelower housing 105 a side). That is, as the structure of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, secondary-side coil 2 b is stackedfurther on the lower housing 105 a side than secondary-side magneticsheet 3 b. Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42sets, as a charging direction, the direction on the secondary-side coil2 b side and the direction on the opposite side of secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b. In other words, a non-charging direction ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is the direction on thesecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b side and the direction on the oppositeside of secondary-side coil 2 b. As described above, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 sets the rear surface side of housing 105as the charging direction. Non-contact charging is performed by bringingprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 close to the rear surfaceside.

Next, the arrangement of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 in portable terminal apparatus 100 will described indetail.

As described above, in primary-side non-contact charging module 41 (orsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42), the magnet for aligningof primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b is present in somecase and absent in other cases. As shown in FIG. 17, when primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 includes magnet 30 a, magnet 30 a canperform aligning by attracting and being attracted by mainlysecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42. That is, in both the aligning methods, the aligning fornon-contact charging is performed such that the hollow portion ofprimary-side coil 2 a and the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 bface each other.

However, since portable terminal apparatus 100 in the present embodimentincludes secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51, there are a plurality of modules including coils that form LCresonance circuits using magnetic sheets (magnetic bodies) and resonancecapacitors.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, in the present embodiment,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed to be stacked. Further, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is desirably disposed such that at least a part of the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b faces the hollow portion of coil 53.

In other words, NFC antenna 51 is disposed such that at least a part ofthe hollow portion of coil 53 faces the hollow portion of secondary-sidecoil 2 b. That is, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b exposed from thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and magnetic sheet 52 exposedfrom the hollow portion of coil 53 face each other. That is, aprojection in the perpendicular direction of secondary-side magneticsheet 3 b in the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b crosses thehollow portion of coil 53. That is, in the communication direction orthe charging direction, at least the parts of the hollow portions are onone straight line.

By adopting such an arrangement, a total area of the two magnetic bodies(for example, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52 ofNFC antenna 51) at the time when portable terminal apparatus 100 isviewed from magnet 30 a is reduced. For this reason, even if magnet 30 aand magnetic sheet 52 attract each other and primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 is aligned with NFC antenna 51 (a module not to bealigned), secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is located inthe vicinity of the primary-side non-contact charging module. That is,since the at least the parts of the hollow portion of coil 53 and thehollow portion of the secondary-side coil overlap, even when portableterminal apparatus 100 includes secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51, it is possible to reduce deviation of thealigning of primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Therefore, it is possibleto improve the accuracy of the aligning. Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3b can easily receive magnetic fluxes from primary-side non-contactcharging module 41. Further, the hollow portion of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is a portion surrounded by secondary-sidecoil 2 b. That is, the hollow portion is a portion where a magneticfield formed by secondary-side coil 2 b is extremely strong. Therefore,even if primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is aligned with NFCantenna 51 (a module not to be aligned), since the hollow portions ofNFC antenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42overlap, the hollow portions of primary-side non-contact charging module41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 also overlap.Therefore, since the hollow portions of primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42overlap, it is possible to maintain power transmission efficiencybetween primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 at fixed or higher efficiency. Tomaintain power transmission efficiency, it is preferable that theoverlapping area of the hollow portions of NFC antenna 51 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is equal to or larger than50% of the area of the hollow portion of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. Consequently, it is possible to secure sufficientpower transmission efficiency between the non-contact charging modules.

At least the portion of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42overlapping NFC antenna 51 can surely receive magnetic fluxes fromprimary-side non-contact charging module 41. In particular, ifsecondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and coil 53 of NFC antenna 51 overlap, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 can receive magnetic fluxes. This is because thecoils sections of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 generate magnetic fluxes.

As described above, by disposing secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 such that the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portion of coil 53 overlap,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 can easily receivemagnetic fluxes from primary-side non-contact charging module 41.Therefore, it is possible to suppress deterioration in the transmissionefficiency of non-contact charging.

The method of aligning is not limited to the case where magnet 30 a isused. Other methods of aligning described below are the same.

At least parts of the electrical line of secondary-side coil 2 b and theelectrical line of coil 53 are stacked. Consequently, for example, evenif primary-side non-contact charging module 41 is aligned with referenceto NFC antenna 51, it is possible to more efficiently transmit electricpower to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Further, in the sectional view of FIG. 17, secondary-side coil 2 b isdivided into sectional portion 2 ba located on one side of housing 105(the left side in FIG. 17) and sectional portion 2 bb located on theother side of housing 105 (the right side in FIG. 17). Similarly, coil53 is divided into sectional portion 53 a located on one side of housing105 (the left side in FIG. 17) and sectional portion 53 b located on theother side of housing 105 (the right side in FIG. 17). Then, sectionalportion 2 ba and sectional portion 53 a face each other. That is, on thecross section of housing 105, since the sectional portions ofsecondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 both on the left side (one side ofhousing 105) face each other, the hollow portion of secondary-side coil2 b and the hollow portion of coil 53 also face each other. Therefore,it is possible to suppress deterioration in transmission efficiency ofnon-contact charging. Of course, the sectional portions on the otherside of housing 105 may face each other.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 17, in the present embodiment,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 areconfigured to be substantially symmetrical, respectively. However, theconfiguration of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 is not limited to this. In other words, the center portion ofthe magnetic sheet and the center portion of the coil (i.e., the centerportion of the hollow portion of the coil) do not have to match. Thatis, the coil may be disposed only at any one end of the magnetic sheet.Even in such a case, it is possible to suppress an alignment error byopposing the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollowportion of coil 53 each other.

Further, in the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is disposed on the upper side (the upper housing 105 b side)of NFC antenna 51. That is, secondary-side non-contact charging module42 is disposed in a position close to liquid crystal panel 101 andoperation button 102 compared with NFC antenna 51. In other words, NFCantenna 51 is disposed in the charging direction of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 (the primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 side). That is, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42is disposed such that secondary-side coil 2 b is present betweensecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52.

Consequently, portable terminal apparatus 100 is configured such thatnot only secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 are disposed to overlap but also secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is not disposed on the communication surface (i.e.,communication direction) side of NFC antenna 51. As described above, thecommunication direction is the coil 53 side of NFC antenna 51. For thisreason, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is not disposed onthe coil 53 side. Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module42 is disposed on the magnetic sheet 52 side rather than on the coil 53side for NFC antenna 51.

Consequently, since secondary-side coil 2 b, which is a conductor, isabsent in the communication direction of NFC antenna 51, it is possibleto provide a satisfactory environment for near field communication. Inparticular, magnetic sheet 52 is thin compared with magnetic sheet 3 bof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 that treats largepower. Therefore, even in power transmission between the non-contactcharging modules, NFC antenna 51 is not a substantial obstacle.

NFC antenna 51 may be disposed on the upper side (the upper housing 105b side) of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is, NFCantenna 51 is disposed in a position close to liquid crystal panel 101and operation button 102 compared with secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. In other words, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is disposed on the communication direction side of NFC antenna51. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposed such that coil 53 is presentbetween magnetic sheet 52 and secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b.

Consequently, since coil 53, which is a conductor, is absent in thecharging direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, itis possible to further improve the transmission efficiency ofnon-contact charging. A difference in a power transmission(communication) time is important for this. That is, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 performs power transmission for severalhours for the purpose of charging battery pack 104. Meanwhile,communication by NFC antenna 51 is about several seconds. Therefore, itis important that NFC antenna 51 does not hinder the power transmissionof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

As in the present embodiment, if the charging direction and the nearfield communication direction of housing 105 do not change, the userdoes not need to change, according to a situation, the surface ofportable terminal apparatus 100 that is brought close. For this reason,it is possible to improve the operability of portable terminal apparatus100. That is, by placing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42such that secondary-side coil 2 b is closer to magnetic sheet 52 thansecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b, it is possible to improve operabilityof portable terminal apparatus 100.

Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and magnetic sheet 52 of NFC antenna 51 are located on theliquid crystal panel 101 side, which is a display unit. That is, both ofthe power transmitting direction (the charging direction) ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and the communicationdirection of NFC antenna 51 are directions opposite to the direction ofliquid crystal panel 101. Consequently, even during charging and duringnear field communication, it is possible to use liquid crystal panel 101without problems. Magnetic fluxes for communication do not pass throughliquid crystal panel 101.

Further, as in the present embodiment, since both of the non-contactcharging direction and the near field communication direction are on therear surface side of housing 105 (the lower housing 105 a side), inother words, not on the upper surface side of housing 105 (the upperhousing 105 b side) including liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1A to1D), it is possible to suppress liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1Ato 1D) from being scratched by performing the non-contact charging orthe near field communication.

In the present embodiment, of course, at least parts of secondary-sidecoil 2 b and coil 53, in particular, at least parts of the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portion of coil 53only have to face each other and it does not matter which ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 isplaced on top of the other. For example, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 may be disposed on the lower housing 105 a side, NFCantenna 51 may be disposed on the upper housing 105 b side, and both ofthe charging direction and the communication direction may be set on theupper housing 105 b side. The charging direction may be either the lowerhousing 105 a side or the upper housing 105 b side. Similarly, thecommunication direction may be either the lower housing 105 a side orthe upper housing 105 b side. That is, unlike the present embodiment,the charging direction and the communication direction may be opposeddirections.

Portable terminal apparatus 100, which is an example of a communicationapparatus, is a portable apparatus such as a cellular phone, a personalcomputer, or a digital camera. However, portable terminal apparatus 100does not need to be limited to these apparatuses.

As in the present embodiment, since the charging type of portableterminal apparatus 100 is the non-contact charging, a connectionterminal for charging does not have to be provided in portable terminalapparatus 100. Therefore, since electronic members exposed to theoutside of housing 105 are decreased, it is possible to improve awaterproofing property of portable terminal apparatus 100.

Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is thinner than magnetic sheet 52 of NFC antenna 51.Therefore, the power transmission between the non-contact chargingmodules can easily penetrate thin magnetic sheet 52. That is,satisfactory communication (that is, power transmission) efficiency canbe obtained not only in the near field communication of the sheetantenna but also in the power transmission between the non-contactcharging modules. Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is made of amaterial that shows a good characteristic at a resonance frequency of100 to 200 kHz at which the power transmission is performed. Magneticsheet 52 is made of a material that shows a good characteristic at afrequency used for the near field communication of RFID, i.e., aresonance frequency higher than the resonance frequency of the powertransmission. In NFC antenna 51, a resonance frequency is 13.56 MHz.That is, as secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52,ferrite sheets of different materials or compositions are respectivelyused.

The winding width of secondary-side coil 2 b (i.e., the winding width ofsectional portion 2 ba or sectional portion 2 bb) is thicker than thewinding width of coil 53 of NFC antenna 51 (i.e., the winding width ofsectional portion 53 a or 53 b). Therefore, since secondary-side coil 2b extends beyond coil 53 irrespective of how the coils are stacked, itis possible to sufficiently perform the power transmission.

Further, if secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is configuredlarger than NFC antenna 51, it is possible to further improvecommunication efficiency of each of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51. That is, since some portion ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 always extends beyond NFCantenna 51, it is possible to secure a portion where secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 can receive, not via NFC antenna 51,magnetic fluxes generated from primary-side non-contact charging module41.

Embodiment 2

Embodiment 2 will be described below with reference to FIG. 18. FIG. 18is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of non-contactcharging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 18 is also a diagram conceptually showing a crosssection of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C cutin the thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 aand upper housing 105 b). Members including components and functionssame as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same referencenumerals and signs and detailed description of the members is omitted.

First, a straight line G-G and a straight line H-H are described. Thestraight line G-G shown in FIG. 18 is the center axis of the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b and is the center of the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b in the cross section of housing 105.That is, referring to FIG. 18, the straight line G-G is the center ofthe innermost portion of sectional portion 2 ba and the innermostportion of sectional portion 2 bb. The straight line H-H is the centeraxis of the hollow portion of coil 53 and is the center of the hollowportion of coil 53 in the same cross section. That is, referring to FIG.18, the straight line H-H is the center of the innermost portion ofsectional portion 53 a and the innermost portion of sectional portion 53b.

If the hollow portions of the coils are circular, the center axes (thestraight line G-G and the straight line H-H) may be the centers of thecircles. Alternatively, if the hollow portions of the coils arepolygonal, the center axes may be the centers of gravity of thepolygons, intersections of diagonal lines, or the like.

Next, characteristic points of the present embodiment will be described.

In general, in aligning for non-contact charging, deterioration inefficiency of power transmission is suppressed by placing the hollowportions of the primary-side and secondary-side coils one on top of theother. That is, the aligning is performed to align the centers of thehollow portions of the primary-side and secondary-side coils each other.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 18, thesecondary-side non-contact charging module is disposed such that thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b crosses the straight line H-H.For this reason, even if primary-side non-contact charging module 41 isaligned with NFC antenna 51, i.e., the aligning is performed such thatthe center axis of the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a and thecenter axis of the hollow portion of coil 53 (the straight line H-H)match, the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a and the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b are located on the straight line H-H.Therefore, at least a part of the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2a can face the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b. As describedabove, since an alignment error is further suppressed, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 can further receive magnetic fluxes. Thatis, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency of powertransmission of non-contact charging.

Further, in the present embodiment, NFC antenna 51 is disposed such thatthe hollow portion of coil 53 is located on the straight line G-G Notonly sectional portion 2 ba and sectional portion 53 a but alsosectional portion 2 bb and sectional portion 53 b face each other.Consequently, it is possible to increase an area of the opposed portionsof the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portionof coil 53. That is, it is possible to suppress the alignment error andsuppress the deterioration in efficiency of power transmission ofnon-contact charging.

In the present embodiment, the hollow portion of coil 53 faces thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b to include the hollow portionof secondary-side coil 2 b. Specifically, a projection of the hollowportion of coil 53 in the perpendicular direction (the straight line H-Hdirection) of magnetic sheet 52 includes the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b. Consequently, magnetic fluxes generated byprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 can be allowed to easilypass through the hollow portion of coil 53 rather than the electricalline of coil 53 that causes an eddy current and heat generation. Forthis reason, it is possible to suppress the deterioration in efficiencyof non-contact charging.

Conversely, the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b may face thehollow portion of coil 53 to include the hollow portion of coil 53. Thatis, a projection of the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b in theperpendicular direction (the straight line G-G direction) ofsecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b includes the hollow portion of coil53. In the arrangement described above, irrespective of the position ofmagnetic sheet 52 magnet 30 a is aligned, the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b is present on a straight line direction thatconnects magnet 30 a and the hollow portion of coil 53. Therefore, thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b faces magnet 30 a (i.e., atleast a part of the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a).Consequently, it is possible to further suppress the deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

NFC antenna 51 may be disposed on the upper side (the upper housing 105b side) of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is, NFCantenna 51 is disposed in a position close to liquid crystal panel 101and operation button 102 compared with secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. In other words, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is disposed on the communication direction side of NFC antenna51. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposed such that coil 53 is presentbetween magnetic sheet 52 and the secondary-side magnetic sheet.

Consequently, since coil 53, which is a conductor, is absent in thecharging direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, itis possible to further improve the transmission efficiency ofnon-contact charging.

Embodiment 3

Embodiment 3 will be described below with reference to FIG. 19. FIG. 19is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of non-contactcharging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 19 is also a diagram conceptually showing a crosssection of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C cutin the thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 aand upper housing 105 b). Members including components and functionssame as those in Embodiments 1 and 2 are denoted by the same referencenumerals and signs and detailed description of the members is omitted.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are disposed to completely overlap. That is, in thecase of the present embodiment, since a principal plane ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is larger than a principalplane of NFC antenna 51, a projection in the perpendicular direction ofthe principal plane of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42includes NFC antenna 51. Conversely, a projection in the perpendiculardirection of the principal plane of NFC antenna 51 is included insecondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Therefore, since an area of the two magnetic bodies (secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52) viewed from magnet 30 a isfurther reduced, it is possible to further suppress an alignment errorto magnet 30 a.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are disposed such that a projection in theperpendicular direction of a plane including secondary-side coil 2 bincludes coil 53. The hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and thehollow portion of coil 53 face each other. Further, a straight line I-Iis the center axis of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andthe center axis of NFC antenna 51. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposedsuch that the center axis of NFC antenna 51 overlaps the center axis(the straight line I-I) of secondary-side non-contact charging module42. In the case of the present embodiment, since the hollow portion ofcoil 53 is larger than the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b,secondary-side coil 2 b is disposed to be placed on coil 53 such thatthe hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is included in the hollowportion of coil 53. When the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 bis larger than the hollow portion of coil 53, coil 53 is disposed to beplaced on secondary-side coil 2 b such that the hollow portion of coil53 is included in the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b.

Therefore, even if magnet 30 a is aligned to the center axis of NFCantenna 51, since the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a faces thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 can be aligned with primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 as described above, it is possible to improve accuracy ofaligning by magnet 30 a. Therefore, it is possible to suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

The shapes of the hollow portions of primary-side coil 2 a,secondary-side coil 2 b, and coil 53 are not specifically limited andmay be any shape such as an annular shape (a circular shape), anelliptical shape, a rectangular shape, or a polygonal shape.

In Embodiments 1 to 3, as a method of aligning primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, amethod of aligning the modules using the magnet is described. However,even if other methods are used, it is preferable to disposesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 withthe hollow portions thereof placed one on top of the other.

For example, the same applies in the case of a method in whichnon-contact charger 400 (or primary-side non-contact charging module 41)detects the position of secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 to automatically move primary-side coil 2a to the position of secondary-side coil 2 b.

Even if non-contact charger 400 aligns primary-side coil 2 a with theposition of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned), secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFC antenna 51including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 a and coil 53are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment error ofprimary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

The same applies in the case of a method in which, since non-contactcharger 400 includes a large number of coils, portable terminalapparatus 100 can be charged anywhere on charging surface 402 ofnon-contact charger 400. In this method, non-contact charger 400 causesall the large number of coils to generate magnetic fluxes in some caseand does not cause all the coils to generate magnetic fluxes in othercases. When non-contact charger 400 does not cause all the large numberof coils to generate magnetic fluxes, non-contact charger 400 detectssecondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42to select (one or a plurality of) coil matching the position ofsecondary-side coil 2 b out of the large number of coils. Non-contactcharger 400 feeds an electric current to the selected coil (hereinafterreferred to as primary-side coil 2 a) to transmit electric power to thesecondary side.

Even if non-contact charger 400 selects a coil (primary-side coil 2 a)matching the position of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned),secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFCantenna 51 including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 aand coil 53 are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment errorof primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

As described above, in various aligning methods, it is possible tosuppress an alignment error and send a large number of magnetic fluxesto secondary-side coil 2 b by opposing at least parts of the hollowportion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portion of coil 53each other. Therefore, it is possible to suppress deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

Embodiments 1 to 3 can be combined as appropriate.

Embodiment 4

In Embodiment 4, as shown in FIG. 17 described in Embodiment 1, inportable terminal apparatus 100, at least a part of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 (secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b) isdisposed to overlap NFC antenna 51 (magnetic sheet 52). That is, atleast a part of a projection in the perpendicular direction of theprincipal plane of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42(secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b) overlaps NFC antenna 51 (magneticsheet 52). In other words, at least parts of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 (secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b) and NFC antenna51 (magnetic sheet 52) face each other. In the case of the presentembodiment, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is formed to cover theprincipal plane of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Forthis reason, when NFC antenna 51 faces secondary-side magnetic sheet 3b, NFC antenna 51 substantially faces secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. The same applies to magnetic sheet 52. Whensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 faces magnetic sheet 52,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 substantially faces NFCantenna 51. Members including components and functions same as those inEmbodiments 1 to 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals and signsand detailed description of the members is omitted.

According to the arrangement described above, an area of the twomagnetic bodies (secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52of NFC antenna 51) at the time when portable terminal apparatus 100 isviewed from magnet 30 a is reduced. For this reason, it is possible toreduce an alignment error by magnet 30 a. That is, in other words, evenif magnet 30 a and magnetic sheet 52 (a magnetic body not to be aligned)attract each other (i.e., primary-side coil 2 a and coil 53 arealigned), secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed toface NFC antenna 51 including magnetic sheet 52. For this reason, it ispossible to suppress an alignment error of primary-side coil 2 a andsecondary-side coil 2 b. In secondary-side non-contact charging module42, at least a portion overlapping NFC antenna 51 can surely receivemagnetic fluxes of primary-side non-contact charging module 41. Inparticular, if secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and coil 53 of NFC antenna Si overlap, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 can receive magnetic fluxes. Therefore,compared with the case where secondary-side non-contact charging module42 and NFC antenna 51 are disposed without being placed one on top ofthe other, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 can easilyreceive magnetic fluxes generated by primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41. For this reason, it is possible to suppress deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

Further, in the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is disposed on the upper side (the upper housing 105 b side)of NFC antenna 51. That is, secondary-side non-contact charging module42 is disposed in a position close to liquid crystal panel 101 andoperation button 102 compared with NFC antenna 51. In other words, NFCantenna 51 is disposed in the charging direction of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 (the primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 side).

Consequently, NFC antenna 51 can perform more satisfactorycommunication. A reason for this will be described below. The chargingdirection is the direction on the primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 side for secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and isthe direction on the secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 sidefor primary-side non-contact charging module 41. That is, the chargingdirection for secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is thedirection on the secondary-side coil 2 b side and the direction on theopposite side of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b. In other words, anon-charging direction for secondary-side non-contact charging module 42is the direction of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and the directionon the opposite side of secondary-side coil 2 b.

As described above, NFC antenna 51 sets the rear surface side (the lowerhousing 105 a side) of housing 105 as the communication direction. Thatis, in NFC antenna 51, magnetic sheet 52 is present on the upper surfaceside (the upper housing 105 b side) of housing 105 viewed from coil 53.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is larger than NFC antenna51. Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 needs a large electriccurrent in order to perform charging. Secondary-side coil 2 b forfeeding the electric current and secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b forsuppressing a leak of magnetic fluxes generated by the electric currentare also large compared with primary-side coil 2 a and primary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 a. For this reason, the influence of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 on NFC antenna 51 is large compared withthe influence of NFC antenna 51 on secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42.

Therefore, portable terminal apparatus 100 in the present embodiment isconfigured such that not only secondary-side non-contact charging module42 and NFC antenna 51 are disposed to overlap but also secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is not disposed on the communicationsurface (i.e., in the communication direction) of NFC antenna 51. Asdescribed above, the communication direction is the coil 53 side of NFCantenna 51. For this reason, secondary-side non-contact charging module42 is not disposed on the coil 53 side. Therefore, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is disposed on the magnetic sheet 52 siderather than on the coil 53 side for NFC antenna 51.

Consequently, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency ofnon-contact charging and decrease a factor for inhibiting communicationof NFC antenna 51. Therefore, it is possible to configure portableterminal apparatus 100 that can perform non-contact charging and nearfield communication.

As described above, portable terminal apparatus 100 in the presentembodiment can perform non-contact charging by secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and near field communication by NFCantenna 51. That is, by reducing mutual interference of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51, it is possible toallow secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51to coexist in one portable terminal apparatus 100.

As in the present embodiment, if the charging direction and the nearfield communication direction of housing 105 do not change, the userdoes not need to change, according to a situation, the surface ofportable terminal apparatus 100 that is brought close to NFC antenna 51.For this reason, it is possible to improve the operability of portableterminal apparatus 100. That is, by placing secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 such that secondary-side coil 2 b is closer tomagnetic sheet 52 than secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b, it is possibleto improve the operability of portable teiininal apparatus 100.

Further, as in the present embodiment, since both of the non-contactcharging direction and the near field communication direction are on therear surface side (the lower housing 105 a side) of housing 105, inother words, not on the upper surface side (the upper housing 105 bside) of housing 105 including liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1A to1D), it is possible to suppress liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1Ato 1D) from being scratched by performing the non-contact charging orthe near field communication.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 17, in the present embodiment,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 areconfigured to be substantially symmetrical to each other. However, theconfiguration of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 is not limited to this. In other words, the center portion ofthe magnetic sheet and the center portion of the coil (i.e., the centerportion of the hollow portion of the coil) do not have to match. Thatis, the coil may be disposed only at any one end of the magnetic sheet.

However, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or NFCantenna 51 is configured as described above, depending on a way ofplacing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51one on top of the other, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are sometimes disposed such that a portion at an endof secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b where secondary-side coil 2 b isnot disposed and a portion at an end of magnetic sheet 52 where coil 53is not disposed to overlap each other.

Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 are preferably disposed such that secondary-side coil 2 b (includingthe hollow portion) and coil 53 (including the hollow portion) face eachother. By adopting such arrangement, it is possible to place the twocoils close to each other irrespective of the configurations and a wayof overlapping of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51. That is, even if magnet 30 a and magnetic sheet 52 attracteach other, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b close to coil 53 caneasily receive magnetic fluxes from primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41. Therefore, it is possible to suppress deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

Of course, the relation between secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 may be opposite. In this case,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed on the lowerhousing 105 a side, NFC antenna 51 is disposed on the upper housing 105b side, and both of the charging direction and the communicationdirection are on the upper housing 105 b side.

Portable terminal apparatus 100, which is an example of a communicationapparatus, is a portable apparatus such as a cellular phone, a personalcomputer, or a digital camera. However, portable terminal apparatus 100does not need to be limited to these apparatuses.

As in the present embodiment, since the charging type of portableterminal apparatus 100 is the non-contact charging, a connectionterminal for charging does not have to be provided in portable terminalapparatus 100. Therefore, since electronic members exposed to theoutside of housing 105 are decreased, it is possible to improve awaterproofing property of portable terminal apparatus 100.

Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is thinner than magnetic sheet 52 of NFC antenna 51.Therefore, the power transmission between the non-contact chargingmodules can easily penetrate thin magnetic sheet 52. That is,satisfactory communication (power transmission) efficiency can beobtained not only in the near field communication of the sheet antennabut also in the power transmission between the non-contact chargingmodules. Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is made of a material thatshows a good characteristic at a resonance frequency of 100 to 200 kHzat which the power transmission is performed. Magnetic sheet 52 is madeof a material that shows a good characteristic at a frequency used forthe near field communication of RFD, i.e., a resonance frequency higherthan the resonance frequency of the power transmission. In NFC antenna51, a resonance frequency is 13.56 MHz. That is, as secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52, ferrite sheets of differentmaterials or compositions are respectively used.

The winding width of secondary-side coil 2 b is thicker than the windingwidth of coil 53 of NFC antenna 51. Therefore, since secondary-side coil2 b extends beyond coil 53 irrespective of how the coils are stacked, itis possible to sufficiently perforin the power transmission.

Magnetic sheet 3 b of the secondary-side non-contact charging module isdisposed on the liquid crystal panel 101 side, which is a display unit,and secondary-side coil 2 b faces NFC antenna 51. That is, both of thepower transmitting direction of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and the communication direction of NFC antenna 51 aredirections opposite to the direction of liquid crystal panel 101.Consequently, even during charging or during near field communication,it is possible to use liquid crystal panel 101 without problems.Magnetic fluxes for communication do not pass through liquid crystalpanel 101.

The hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portion ofcoil 53 are stacked, i.e., at least parts of the hollow portions are onone straight line. Since at least the parts of both the hollow portionsare stacked, accuracy of aligning is improved. The same applies not onlyto the case where a magnet is used for aligning but also to otheraligning methods. Accuracy of aligning is improved when substantialpositions of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 are nearly matched by stacking the hollow portions.

At least parts of the electrical line of secondary-side coil 2 b and theelectrical line of coil 53 are stacked. Consequently, even ifprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 is aligned with reference toNFC antenna 51, it is possible to efficiently transmit electric power tosecondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Further, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 isconfigured larger than NFC antenna 51, it is possible to improve theefficiency of communication of each of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51. That is, since some portion ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 always extends beyond NFCantenna 51, it is possible to secure a portion where non-contactcharging module 42 can receive, not via NFC antenna 51, magnetic fluxesgenerated from primary-side non-contact charging module 41.

Embodiment 5

Embodiment 5 will be described below with reference to FIG. 19. FIG. 19is also a diagram conceptually showing a cross section of portableterminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 cut in the thickness direction(the stack direction of lower housing 105 a and upper housing 105 b).Members including components and functions same as those in Embodiments1 to 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and signs and detaileddescription of the members is omitted.

The present embodiment is different from Embodiment 4 in a positionalrelation between secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed to completely overlap. That is, in the case of the presentembodiment, since a principal plane of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is larger than a principal plane of NFC antenna 51, aprojection in the perpendicular direction of the principal plane ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 includes NFC antenna 51.Conversely, a projection in the perpendicular direction of the principalplane of NFC antenna 51 is included in secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42.

Therefore, since an area of the two magnetic bodies (secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52) viewed from magnet 30 a isfurther reduced, it is possible to further suppress an alignment errorto magnet 30 a.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are disposed such that a projection in theperpendicular direction of a plane including secondary-side coil 2 bincludes coil 53. The hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and thehollow portion of coil 53 face each other. Further, a straight line I-Iis the center axis of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andthe center axis of NFC antenna 51. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposedsuch that the center axis of NFC antenna 51 overlaps the center axis(the straight line I-I) of secondary-side non-contact charging module42. In the case of the present embodiment, since the hollow portion ofcoil 53 is larger than the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b,secondary-side coil 2 b is disposed to be placed on coil 53 such thatthe hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is included in the hollowportion of coil 53.

Therefore, even if magnet 30 a is aligned to the center axis of NFCantenna 51, since the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a faces thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 can be aligned with primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 as described above, it is possible to improve accuracy ofaligning by magnet 30 a. Therefore, it is possible to suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

In the present embodiment, a projection in the perpendicular directionof the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is included in thehollow portion of coil 53. Consequently, magnetic fluxes generated byprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 can be allowed to easilypass through the hollow portion of coil 53 rather than the electricalline of coil 53 that causes an eddy current and heat generation. Thatis, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency ofnon-contact charging.

Conversely, the projection in the perpendicular direction of the hollowportion of coil 53 may be disposed to be included in the hollow portionof secondary-side coil 2 b. In the arrangement described above, even ifmagnet 30 a is aligned with magnetic sheet 52, the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b is present on a straight line direction thatconnects magnet 30 a and the hollow portion of coil 53. Therefore, thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b faces magnet 30 a (i.e., atleast a part of the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a).Consequently, it is possible to further suppress the deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

The shapes of the hollow portions of primary-side coil 2 a,secondary-side coil 2 b, and coil 53 are not specifically limited andmay be any shape such as an annular shape (a circular shape), anelliptical shape, a rectangular shape, or a polygonal shape.

In Embodiments 1 to 5, as a method of aligning primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, amethod of aligning the modules using the magnet is described. However,even if other methods are used, it is preferable to disposesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 to beplaced one on top of the other.

For example, the same applies in the case of a method in whichnon-contact charger 400 (or primary-side non-contact charging module 41)detects the position of secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 to automatically move primary-side coil 2a to the position of secondary-side coil 2 b.

Even if non-contact charger 400 aligns primary-side coil 2 a with theposition of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned), secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFC antenna 51including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 a and coil 53are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment error ofprimary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

The same applies in the case of a method in which, since non-contactcharger 400 includes a large number of coils, portable terminalapparatus 100 can be charged anywhere on charging surface 402 ofnon-contact charger 400. In this method, non-contact charger 400 causesall the large number of coils to generate magnetic fluxes in some caseand does not cause all the coils to generate magnetic fluxes in othercases. When non-contact charger 400 does not cause all the large numberof coils to generate magnetic fluxes, non-contact charger 400 detectssecondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42to select (one or a plurality of) coils matching the position ofsecondary-side coil 2 b out of the large number of coils. Non-contactcharger 400 feeds an electric current to the selected coil (hereinafterreferred to as primary-side coil 2 a) to transmit electric power to thesecondary side.

Even if non-contact charger 400 selects a coil (primary-side coil 2 a)matching the position of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned),secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFCantenna 51 including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 aand coil 53 are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment errorof primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

As described above, in various aligning methods, it is possible tosuppress an alignment error of primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-sidecoil 2 b. That is, it is possible to send a large number of magneticfluxes to secondary-side coil 2 b. Therefore, it is possible to suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

Embodiments 1 to 5 can be combined as appropriate.

Embodiment 6

Embodiment 6 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.20. FIG. 20 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 20 is also a diagram conceptually showing across section of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 cut inthe thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 a andupper housing 105 b). To simplify the description, FIG. 20 does not showliquid crystal panel 101, operation button 102, substrate 103, andbattery pack 104 and shows an arrangement relation betweensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aresimply shown as only coils and magnetic sheets. In the abovedescription, members including components and functions same as those inEmbodiments 1 to 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals and signsand detailed description of the members is omitted.

First, an overview of portable terminal apparatus 100 and non-contactcharger 400 will be described.

Battery pack 104 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D) in portable terminal apparatus 100is charged via primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Specifically, an electriccurrent flows to secondary-side coil 2 b with a magnetic field generatedby feeding an electric current to primary-side coil 2 a in non-contactcharger 400. Battery pack 104 electrically connected to secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is charged. Consequently, non-contactcharger 400 can charge portable terminal apparatus 100 without beingelectrically connected to portable terminal apparatus 100 (in anon-contact manner).

Portable terminal apparatus 100 includes NFC antenna 51 described above.Like primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, NFC antenna 51 supplies electric powerand performs data transmission using electromagnetic induction (magneticfluxes).

In the present embodiment, a communication surface of NFC antenna 51 isthe lower housing 105 a side. That is, as the structure of NFC antenna51, coil 53 is stacked further on the lower housing 105 a side thanmagnetic sheet 52. Therefore, a communication direction for NFC antenna51 is a direction on the coil 53 side and a direction on the oppositeside of magnetic sheet 52. In other words, a non-communication directionof NFC antenna 51 is a direction on the magnetic sheet 52 side and adirection on the opposite side of coil 53. As described above, NFCantenna 51 sets the rear surface side of housing 105 as thecommunication direction. Communication can be performed by bringing acommunication destination of NFC antenna 51 close to the rear surfaceside.

Next, the arrangement of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 in portable terminal apparatus 100 will described indetail.

As described above, in primary-side non-contact charging module 41 (orsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42), the magnet for aligningof primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b is present in somecase and absent in other cases. As shown in FIG. 20, when primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 includes magnet 30 a, magnet 30 a canperform aligning by attracting and being attracted by mainlysecondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42.

However, since portable terminal apparatus 100 in the present embodimentincludes secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51, there are a plurality of modules including coils that form LCresonance circuits using magnetic sheets (magnetic bodies) and resonancecapacitors.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 20, in portableterminal apparatus 100, at least a part of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 (secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b) is disposed tooverlap NFC antenna 51 (magnetic sheet 52). That is, at least a part ofa projection in the perpendicular direction of a principal plain ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 (secondary-side magneticsheet 3 b) overlaps NEC antenna 51 (magnetic sheet 52). In other words,at least parts of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42(secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b) and NFC antenna 51 (magnetic sheet52) face each other. In the case of the present embodiment,secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is formed to cover the principal planeof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. For this reason, whenNFC antenna 51 faces secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b, NFC antenna 51substantially faces secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Thesame applies to magnetic sheet 52. When secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 faces magnetic sheet 52, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 substantially faces NFC antenna 51.

According to the arrangement described above, an area of the twomagnetic bodies (secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52of NFC antenna 51) at the time when portable terminal apparatus 100 isviewed from magnet 30 a is reduced. For this reason, it is possible toreduce an alignment error by magnet 30 a. That is, in other words, evenif magnet 30 a and magnetic sheet 52 (a magnetic body not to be aligned)attract each other (i.e., primary-side coil 2 a and coil 53 arealigned), secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed toface NFC antenna 51 including magnetic sheet 52. For this reason, it ispossible to suppress an alignment error of primary-side coil 2 a andsecondary-side coil 2 b. Therefore, compared with the case wheresecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed without being placed one on top of the other, sincesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 can easily receivemagnetic fluxes generated by primary-side non-contact charging module41, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency ofnon-contact charging.

Further, in the present embodiment, NFC antenna 51 is disposed on theupper side (the upper housing 105 b side) of the secondary-sidenon-contact charging module. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposed in aposition close to liquid crystal panel 101 and operation button 102compared with secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. In otherwords, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed on thecommunication direction side of NFC antenna 51.

Consequently, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency ofnon-contact charging. A reason for this will be described in detailbelow.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42sets the lower housing 105 a side as a charging direction. Forsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42, the charging direction isa direction in which primary-side non-contact charging module 41, towhich electric power is transmitted, is present. That is, for thesecondary-side non-contact charging module, the charging direction isthe direction on the secondary-side coil 2 b side and the oppositedirection on the secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b side. In other words,for the secondary-side non-contact charging module, a non-chargingdirection is the direction on the secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b sideand the opposite direction on the secondary-side coil 2 b side.

The influence of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 on NFCantenna 51 is large compared with the influence of NFC antenna 51 onsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is, when NFC antenna51 is disposed in the non-charging direction of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, magnetic fluxes generated by the nearfield communication penetrate secondary-side non-contact charging module42 for a very short time. Meanwhile, when secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is disposed in the non-communication direction of NFCantenna 51, magnetic fluxes generated by the non-contact chargingpenetrate NFC antenna 51 for a long time. Even when times required forthe near field communication and the non-contact charging do not fit inthe times described above, if the time required for the non-contactcharging is longer than the time required for the near fieldcommunication, the levels of the influences between secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are different.

Further, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 needs a largeelectric current in order to perform charging Magnetic fluxes during thenon-contact charging generated by feeding the electric current are largecompared with magnetic fluxes during the near field communication. Thatis, the influence of the magnetic fluxes generated by the non-contactcharging on NFC antenna 51 is larger than the influence of the magneticfluxes generated by the near field communication on secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42.

To cope with such problems, as shown in FIG. 20, in the presentembodiment, NFC antenna 51 is disposed on the secondary-side magneticsheet 3 b side (in the non-charging direction) of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. That is, NFC antenna 51 is not disposedon the secondary-side coil 2 b side (in the charging direction) ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Consequently, it ispossible to suppress long-time and strong magnetic fluxes frompenetrating NFC antenna 51. Therefore, since it is possible to suppressan electric current unrelated to a communication operation from flowingto NFC antenna 51, it is possible to suppress occurrence of malfunctionin portable terminal apparatus 100 that controls NFC antenna 51.

As described above, portable terminal apparatus 100 in the presentembodiment can suppress an adverse effect on the near fieldcommunication by NFC antenna 51 while suppressing deterioration inefficiency of the non-contact charging by secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42. That is, by reducing mutual interference ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51, it ispossible to allow secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 to coexist in one portable terminal apparatus 100.

As in the present embodiment, if the non-contact charging direction andthe near field communication direction of housing 105 do not change, theuser does not need to change, according to a situation, the surface ofportable terminal apparatus 100 that is brought close to NFC antenna 51.For this reason, it is possible to improve the operability of portableterminal apparatus 100. That is, by disposing NFC antenna 51 such thatcoil 53 is closer to secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b than magneticsheet 52, it is possible to improve operability of portable terminalapparatus 100.

Further, as in the present embodiment, since both of the chargingdirection and the near field communication direction are on the rearsurface side (the lower housing 105 a side) of housing 105, in otherwords, not on the upper surface side (the upper housing 105 b side) ofhousing 105 including liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D), itis possible to suppress liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D)from being scratched by performing the non-contact charging or the nearfield communication.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 20, in the present embodiment,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 areconfigured to be substantially symmetrical to each other. However, theconfiguration of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 is not limited to this. In other words, the center portion ofthe magnetic sheet and the center portion of the coil (i.e., the centerportion of the hollow portion of the coil) do not have to match. Thatis, the coil may be disposed only at any one end of the magnetic sheet.

However, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or NFCantenna 51 is configured as described above, depending on a way ofplacing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NEC antenna 51one on top of the other, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are sometimes disposed such that a portion at an endof secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b where secondary-side coil 2 b isnot disposed and a portion at an end of magnetic sheet 52 where coil 53is not disposed overlap each other.

Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 are preferably disposed such that secondary-side coil 2 b (includingthe hollow portion) and coil 53 (including the hollow portion) face eachother. By adopting such arrangement, it is possible to place the twocoils close to each other irrespective of the configurations and a wayof overlapping of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51. That is, even if magnet 30 a and magnetic sheet 52 attracteach other, secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b close to coil 53 caneasily receive magnetic fluxes from primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41. Therefore, it is possible to suppress deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

Of course, the relation between secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 may be opposite. In this case,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed on the lowerhousing 105 a side, NFC antenna 51 is disposed on the upper housing 105b side, and both of the charging direction and the communicationdirection are on the upper housing 105 b side.

Portable terminal apparatus, which is an example of a communicationapparatus, is a portable apparatus such as a cellular phone, a personalcomputer, or a digital camera. However, portable terminal apparatus doesnot need to be limited to these apparatuses.

As in the present embodiment, since the charging type of portableterminal apparatus 100 is the non-contact charging, a connectionterminal for charging does not have to be provided in portable terminalapparatus 100. Therefore, since electronic members exposed to theoutside of housing 105 are decreased, it is possible to improve awaterproofing property of portable terminal apparatus 100.

Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is thinner than magnetic sheet 52 of NFC antenna 51. Asdescribed above, for the power transmission between the non-contactcharging modules, charging is performed for about several minutes toseveral hours. Meanwhile, the near field communication of NFC antenna 51ends in time equal to or shorter than one second to several seconds.Because of such a difference between the communication times, during thenon-contact charging, leak magnetic fluxes of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 have to be prevented from adversely affecting NFCantenna 51. Therefore, by adopting such a configuration, it is possibleto suppress an adverse effect on NFC antenna 51. Secondary-side magneticsheet 3 b is made of a material that shows a good characteristic at aresonance frequency of 100 to 200 kHz at which the power transmission isperformed. Magnetic sheet 52 is made of a material that shows a goodcharacteristic at a frequency used for the near field communication ofRFID, i.e., a resonance frequency higher than the resonance frequency ofthe power transmission. In the NEC, a resonance frequency is 13.56 MHz.That is, as secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52,ferrite sheets of different materials or compositions are respectivelyused.

The winding width of secondary-side coil 2 b is thicker than the windingwidth of coil 53 of NFC antenna 51.

Secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 h of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and magnetic sheet 52 of NFC antenna 51 are disposed on theliquid crystal panel 101 side, which is a display unit, andsecondary-side coil 2 b faces NFC antenna 51. That is, both of the powertransmitting direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and the communication direction of NFC antenna 51 are directionsopposite to the direction of liquid crystal panel 101. Consequently,even during charging or during near field communication, it is possibleto use liquid crystal panel 101 without problems. Magnetic fluxes forcommunication do not pass through liquid crystal panel 101.

The hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and the hollow portion ofcoil 53 are stacked, i.e., at least parts of the hollow portions are onone straight line. Since at least the parts of both the hollow portionsare stacked, accuracy of aligning is improved. The same applies not onlyto the case where a magnet is used for aligning but also to otheraligning methods. Since substantial positions of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are nearly matched bystacking the hollow portions, accuracy of aligning is improved.

At least parts of the electrical line of secondary-side coil 2 b and theelectrical line of coil 53 are stacked. Consequently, even ifprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 is aligned with reference toNFC antenna 51, it is possible to efficiently transmit electric power tosecondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Further, when NFC antenna 51 is configured larger than secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, it is possible to improve the efficiencyof communication of each of NFC antenna 51 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. That is, since some portion of NFCantenna 51 always extends beyond secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42, it is possible to secure a portion where NFC antenna 51 canreceive electric power not via secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42.

When NFC antenna 51 is configured to be smaller than the hollow portionof secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module42 and fit in the hollow portion, it is possible to further improve theefficiency of communication of each of NFC antenna 51 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. That is, since NFC antenna 51 is alwaysnot stacked on secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42, NFC antenna 51 can perform communication not viasecondary-side coil 2 b.

Embodiment 7

Embodiment 7 will be described below with reference to FIG. 21. FIG. 21is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of non-contactcharging module and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 21 is also a diagram conceptually showing a crosssection of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 cut in thethickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 a andupper housing 105 b). Members including components and functions same asthose in Embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals andsigns and detailed description of the members is omitted.

The present embodiment is different from Embodiment 6 in a positionalrelation between secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed to completely overlap. That is, in the case of the presentembodiment, since a principal plane of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is larger than a principal plane of NFC antenna 51, aprojection in the perpendicular direction of the principal plane ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 includes NFC antenna 51.Conversely, a projection in the perpendicular direction of the principalplane of NFC antenna 51 is included in secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42.

Therefore, since an area of the two magnetic bodies (secondary-sidemagnetic sheet 3 b and magnetic sheet 52) viewed from magnet 30 a isfurther reduced, it is possible to further suppress an alignment errorto magnet 30 a.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are disposed such that a projection in theperpendicular direction of a plane including secondary-side coil 2 bincludes coil 53. The hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b and thehollow portion of coil 53 face each other. Further, a straight line J-Jis the center axis of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andthe center axis of NFC antenna 51. That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposedsuch that the center axis of NFC antenna 51 overlaps the center axis(the straight line J-J) of secondary-side non-contact charging module42. In the case of the present embodiment, since the hollow portion ofcoil 53 is larger than the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b,secondary-side coil 2 b is disposed to be placed on coil 53 such thatthe hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is included in the hollowportion of coil 53.

Therefore, even if magnet 30 a is aligned to the center axis of NFCantenna 51, since the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a faces thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 can be aligned with primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 as described above, it is possible to improve accuracy ofaligning by magnet 30 a. Therefore, it is possible to suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

In the present embodiment, a projection in the perpendicular directionof the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is included in thehollow portion of coil 53. Consequently, magnetic fluxes generated byprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 can be allowed to easilypass through the hollow portion of coil 53 rather than the electricalline of coil 53 that causes an eddy current and heat generation. Thatis, it is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency ofnon-contact charging.

Conversely, the projection in the perpendicular direction of the hollowportion of coil 53 may be disposed to be included in the hollow portionof secondary-side coil 2 b. In the arrangement described above, even ifmagnet 30 a is aligned with magnetic sheet 52, the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b is present on a straight line direction thatconnects magnet 30 a and the hollow portion of coil 53. Therefore, thehollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b faces magnet 30 a (i.e., atleast a part of the hollow portion of primary-side coil 2 a).Consequently, it is possible to further suppress the deterioration inefficiency of non-contact charging.

The shapes of the hollow portions of primary-side coil 2 a,secondary-side coil 2 b, and coil 53 are not specifically limited andmay be any shape such as an annular shape (a circular shape), anelliptical shape, a rectangular shape, or a polygonal shape.

In Embodiments 1 to 7, as a method of aligning primary-side non-contactcharging module 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, amethod of aligning the modules using the magnet is described. However,even if other methods are used, it is preferable to disposesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 to beplaced one on top of the other.

For example, the same applies in the case of a method in whichnon-contact charger 400 (or primary-side non-contact charging module 41)detects the position of secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 to automatically move primary-side coil 2a to the position of secondary-side coil 2 b.

Even if non-contact charger 400 aligns primary-side coil 2 a with theposition of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned), secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFC antenna 51including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 a and coil 53are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment error ofprimary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

The same applies in the case of a method in which, since non-contactcharger 400 includes a large number of coils, portable terminalapparatus 100 can be charged anywhere on charging surface 402 ofnon-contact charger 400. In this method, non-contact charger 400 causesall the large number of coils to generate magnetic fluxes in some caseand does not cause all the coils to generate magnetic fluxes in othercases. When non-contact charger 400 does not cause all the large numberof coils to generate magnetic fluxes, non-contact charger 400 detectssecondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42to select (one or a plurality of) coils matching the position ofsecondary-side coil 2 b out of the large number of coils. Non-contactcharger 400 feeds an electric current to the selected coil (hereinafterreferred to as primary-side coil 2 a) to transmit electric power to thesecondary side.

Even if non-contact charger 400 selects a coil (primary-side coil 2 a)matching the position of coil 53 (a coil not to be aligned),secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed to face NFCantenna 51 including coil 53. Therefore, even if primary-side coil 2 aand coil 53 are aligned, it is possible to suppress an alignment errorof primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-side coil 2 b.

As described above, in various aligning methods, it is possible tosuppress an alignment error of primary-side coil 2 a and secondary-sidecoil 2 b. That is, it is possible to send a large number of magneticfluxes to secondary-side coil 2 b. Therefore, it is possible to suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

Embodiments 1 to 7 can be combined as appropriate.

Embodiment 8

Embodiment 8 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.22. FIG. 22 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofnon-contact charging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 22 is also a diagram conceptually showing across section of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 cut inthe thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 a andupper housing 105 b). To simplify the description, FIG. 22 does not showliquid crystal panel 101, operation button 102, substrate 103, andbattery pack 104 and shows an arrangement relation betweensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aresimply shown as only coils and magnetic sheets. In the abovedescription, members including the components and functions are denotedby the same reference numerals and signs and detailed description of themembers is omitted.

First, an overview of portable terminal apparatus 100 and non-contactcharger 400 will be described.

Battery pack 104 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D) in portable terminal apparatus 100is charged via primary-side non-contact charging module 41 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Specifically, an electriccurrent flows to secondary-side coil 2 b with a magnetic field generatedby feeding an electric current to primary-side coil 2 a in non-contactcharger 400. Battery pack 104 (see FIGS. 1A to 1D) electricallyconnected to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is charged.Consequently, non-contact charger 400 can charge portable terminalapparatus 100 without being electrically connected to portable terminalapparatus 100 (in a non-contact manner).

Portable terminal apparatus 100 includes NFC antenna 51 described above.Like primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, NFC antenna 51 supplies electric powerand performs data transmission using electromagnetic induction (magneticfluxes).

Next, the arrangement of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 in portable terminal apparatus 100 will be described.

In the present embodiment, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42is not disposed in a communication direction of NFC antenna 51. NFCantenna 51 is not disposed in a charging direction of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. That is, NFC antenna 51 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 are not stacked. Both ofcoil 53 of NFC antenna 51 and secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 face a surface (the rear surface) oflower housing 105 b, although being sometimes disposed across some othercomponents.

For NFC antenna 51, the communication direction is a direction in whicha communication destination, with which NFC antenna 51 performs nearfield communication, is present. Since at least coil 53 and magneticsheet 52 are stacked in NFC antenna 51, the communication direction forthe NFC antenna is the direction on the coil 53 side viewed frommagnetic sheet 52 and in the direction on the opposite side of magneticsheet 52. In other words, a non-communication direction (the oppositedirection of the communication direction) of NFC antenna 51 is thedirection on the magnetic sheet 52 side viewed from coil 53 and thedirection on the opposite side of coil 53.

The surface of upper housing 105 b on which liquid crystal panel 101 (oroperation button 102) is provided is set as the upper surface ofportable terminal apparatus 100 and the surface (of lower housing 105 b)facing the upper surface is set as the rear surface of portable terminalapparatus 100. Then, a communication surface of portable terminalapparatus 100 in the present embodiment is the rear surface. Thecommunication surface is a surface brought close (or directed) to thecommunication destination when portable terminal apparatus 100 causesNFC antenna 51 to perform near field communication. That is, in the caseof the present embodiment, the near field communication is performed bybringing the rear surface of portable terminal apparatus 100 close tothe communication destination. The communication surface is also asurface located in the communication direction of NFC antenna 51 inhousing 105. That is, coil 53 is located between magnetic sheet 52 andthe communication surface. The upper surface and the rear surface arenot limited to planes and may be rounded shapes.

For secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, the chargingdirection is a direction in which primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41, to which electric power is transmitted, is present. That is,for the secondary-side non-contact charging module, the chargingdirection is the direction on the secondary-side coil 2 b side and theopposite direction on the secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b side. Inother words, for the secondary-side non-contact charging module, anon-charging direction (the opposite direction of the chargingdirection) is the direction on the secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 bside and the opposite direction on the secondary-side coil 2 b side.

Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, non-contact chargingis performed by bringing the rear surface of portable terminal apparatus100 close to (or directing the rear surface to) non-contact charger 400.That is, a charging surface of portable terminal apparatus 100 in thepresent embodiment is the rear surface. The charging surface is asurface located in the charging direction of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 in housing 105. That is, secondary-side coil 2 b islocated between secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b and the chargingsurface.

Next, an effect attained by disposing secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 as described above will bedescribed.

As described above, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is notdisposed in the communication direction of NFC antenna 51. That is, onthe coil 53 side of NFC antenna 51, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 do not face each other (unopposed to eachother). Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 doesnot face coil 53. In other words, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 is not disposed between NFC antenna 51 and the communicationsurface (or the communication destination). That is, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is disposed not to overlap a projectionin the communication direction of NFC antenna 51.

Therefore, portable terminal apparatus 100 is configured such thatmagnetic fluxes generated in the near field communication less easilypasses through secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.Consequently, the magnetic fluxes during the near field communicationless easily penetrate secondary-side coil 2 b. It is possible todecrease magnetic fluxes that become an eddy current or generate heat insecondary-side coil 2 b and are lost. That is, NFC antenna 51 can easilyreceive the magnetic fluxes. It is possible to decrease factors forhindering the near field communication.

As described above, NFC antenna 51 is not disposed in the chargingdirection of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is, onthe secondary-side coil 2 b side of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 do not face each other (unopposed to each other). Therefore, NFCantenna 51 does not face secondary-side coil 2 b. In other words, NFCantenna 51 is not disposed between secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and the charging surface (or primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41). That is, NFC antenna 51 is disposed not to overlap aprojection in the charging direction of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42.

Therefore, portable terminal apparatus 100 is configured such thatmagnetic fluxes generated at the time of the non-contact charging lesseasily pass through NFC antenna 51. Consequently, the magnetic fluxesduring the near field communication less easily penetrate coil 53. It ispossible to suppress the magnetic fluxes from becoming an eddy currentor generating heat in coil 53 to be lost. That is, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 can easily receive the magnetic fluxes.It is possible to suppress deterioration in efficiency of non-contactcharging.

In summary, since according to the configuration shown in FIG. 22,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed not to interfere with (that is, hinder) the operations eachother. Therefore, it is possible to allow secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 to coexist in one portableterminal apparatus 100.

In the near field communication, what receives magnetic fluxes is coil53 and a main factor of a loss of the magnetic fluxes is secondary-sidecoil 2 b. For this reason, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42only has to be disposed such that at least secondary-side coil 2 b doesnot overlap (cross) a projection in the communication direction of coil53. NFC antenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 arepreferably disposed not to overlap because it is possible to dispose NFCantenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 apart fromeach other and suppress operations of NFC antenna 51 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 from interfering with each other.

What receives magnetic fluxes is secondary-side coil 2 b and a mainfactor of a loss of the magnetic fluxes is coil 53. For this reason, NFCantenna 51 only has to be disposed such that at least coil 53 does notoverlap a projection in the charging direction of secondary-side coil 2b. NFC antenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 arepreferably disposed not to overlap (cross) because it is possible todispose NFC antenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42apart from each other and suppress operations of NFC antenna 51 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 from interfering with eachother.

Further, in the present embodiment, since secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are disposed not to overlap (toface each other), for NFC antenna 51, it is possible to further decreasefactors for hindering the near field communication. A reason for thiswill be described below.

Since portable terminal apparatus 100 in the present embodiment includessecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51, thereare a plurality of modules including coils that form LC resonancecircuits using magnetic sheets (magnetic bodies) and resonancecapacitors.

As described above, primary-side non-contact charging module 41 includesmagnet 30 a in some case and does not include magnet 30 a in othercases. As shown in FIG. 22, when primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 includes magnet 30 a, magnet 30 a facilitates magnetizationand saturation of a magnetic sheet close thereto and decreases thepermeability of the magnetic sheet. Consequently, leak magnetic fluxesincrease and an L value of the magnetic sheet decreases. Therefore,magnet 30 a is likely to change the resonance frequency of an LCresonance circuit (that is, a coil) and adversely affects the near fieldcommunication or the non-contact charging.

Therefore, it is desirable to dispose NFC antenna 51 apart fromsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Consequently, even ifprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 is aligned withsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 using magnet 30 a, it ispossible to reduce the influence of magnet 30 a on NFC antenna 51.

However, in general, since a portable electronic apparatus such asportable terminal apparatus 100 tends to be reduced in size andthickness, the thickness (the height) of housing 105 is small. That is,even if NFC antenna 51 is disposed to be stacked in the non-chargingdirection of the secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, NFCantenna 51 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 are placedclose to each other. For this reason, it is difficult to dispose NFCantenna 51 apart from magnet 30 a in the thickness direction.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, since NFC antenna 51 is disposednot to overlap secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, NFCantenna 51 is disposed apart from magnet 30 a for aligning withsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Consequently, it ispossible to suppress magnet 30 a from adversely affecting NFC antenna51.

As in the present embodiment, if the charging direction (the chargingsurface) and the communication direction (the communication surface) ofhousing 105 do not change, the user does not need to change, accordingto a situation, the surface of portable terminal apparatus 100 that isbrought close to NFC antenna 51. For this reason, it is possible toimprove the operability of portable terminal apparatus 100. That is,when the surface (in the present embodiment, the rear surface) ofhousing 105 located on the coil 53 side of the NFC antenna and thesurface (in the present embodiment, the rear surface) of housing 105located on secondary-side coil 2 b side of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 are the same, it is possible to improve theoperability of portable terminal apparatus 100.

Further, as in the present embodiment, since both of the chargingsurface and the communication surface of portable terminal apparatus 100are on the rear surface side (the lower housing 105 a side) of housing105, in other words, not on the upper surface side (the upper housing105 b side) of housing 105 including liquid crystal panel 101 (see FIGS.1A to 1D), it is possible to suppress liquid crystal panel 101 (seeFIGS. 1A to 1D) from being scratched by performing the non-contactcharging or the near field communication.

The portable terminal apparatus, which is an example of a communicationapparatus, is a portable apparatus such as a cellular phone, a personalcomputer, or a digital camera. However, portable terminal apparatus doesnot need to be limited to these apparatuses. The upper surface may bethe charging surface and the communication surface.

As in the present embodiment, since the charging type of portableterminal apparatus 100 is the non-contact charging, a connectionterminal for charging does not have to be provided in portable terminalapparatus 100. Therefore, since electronic members exposed to theoutside of housing 105 are decreased, it is possible to improve awaterproofing property of portable terminal apparatus 100.

With the present invention, even when magnet 30 a is not used foraligning, a significant effect can be obtained. That is, whensecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 arestacked, adverse effects described below occur.

For example, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 isdisposed on the communication direction side of NFC antenna 51, sincemagnetic fluxes generated when NFC antenna 51 performs communicationpenetrate secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, the magneticfluxes change to an eddy current or generate heat. The eddy currentflows to secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 in a direction for weakening the magnetic fluxes generated byNFC antenna 51. This is because secondary-side coil 2 b ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is extremely largecompared with coil 53 of NFC antenna 51 in terms of an area and in termsof volume. Since secondary-side coil 2 b is a coil used for charging,the difference between the sizes of the coils feeds a lot of electriccurrent for a long time and treats large electric power. Meanwhile,since coil 53 is a coil for small current communication for a shorttime, coil 53 may be a thin electrical line such as a wiring pattern.Therefore, there is this difference between the sizes of the coils. Forthis reason, the magnetic fluxes used for communication by NFC antenna51 are lost by secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and thenear field communication of NFC antenna 51 is hindered.

If NFC antenna 51 is disposed in the charging direction (i.e.,secondary-side coil 2 b side) of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42, since the magnetic fluxes generated during the non-contactcharging of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 penetrate NFCantenna 51, the magnetic fluxes change to an eddy current and generateheat in NFC antenna 51. That is, NFC antenna 51 receives the magneticfluxes for performing power transmission between the non-contactcharging modules. For this reason, the magnetic fluxes forsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 to perform the non-contactcharging are lost by NFC antenna 51 and the efficiency of thenon-contact charging is deteriorated.

Further, time during which the near field communication by NFC antenna51 is performed is distinctly short compared with time during which thenon-contact charging is performed. In general, time required for thenear field communication is several seconds or less than severalminutes. However, time required for the non-contact charging is severalhours.

Therefore, the influence of secondary-side non-contact charging module42 on NFC antenna 51 is large compared with the influence of NFC antenna51 on secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is, when NFCantenna 51 is disposed in the non-charging direction of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42, magnetic fluxes generated by the nearfield communication penetrate secondary-side non-contact charging module42 for a very short time. Meanwhile, when secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is disposed in the non-communication direction of NFCantenna 51, magnetic fluxes generated by the non-contact chargingpenetrate NFC antenna 51 for a long time. Even when times required forthe near field communication and the non-contact charging do not fit inthe times described above, if the time required for the non-contactcharging is longer than the time required for the near fieldcommunication, the levels of the influences between secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are different.

As described above, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are stacked, magnetic fluxes for communication (powertransmission) of one of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 are received by the other. Further, deterioration incommunication (power transmission) efficiency due to an eddy currentalso occurs.

However, by disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andNFC antenna 51 not to be stacked as in the present invention, it ispossible to solve the problems described above and allow secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 to coexist in smallhousing 105. Certainly, housing efficiency is higher when secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 having planar shapes(having large plane portions and small thicknesses) are stacked in smallhousing 105. However, since both of secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 use magnetic fluxes in communicating(transmitting power), secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andNFC antenna 51 are preferably not stacked.

Embodiment 9

Embodiment 9 will be described below with reference to FIG. 23. FIG. 23is a sectional view showing an arrangement example of non-contactcharging modules and an NFC antenna in an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 24 is a sectional view showing an arrangement example ofthe non-contact charging modules and the NFC antenna in the embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 23 is also a diagram conceptually showinga cross section of portable terminal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 cutin the thickness direction (the stack direction of lower housing 105 aand upper housing 105 b). Members including components and functionssame as those in Embodiments 1 to 8 are denoted by the same referencenumerals and signs and detailed description of the members is omitted.

Differences from Embodiment 1 of the present embodiment will bedescribed below.

NFC antenna 51 is disposed further on the upper surface side (i.e., theopposite direction of the charging direction) than a plane includingsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. In other words, the planeincluding secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is locatedbetween NFC antenna 51 and the charging surface (the rear surface).Further, NFC antenna 51 is placed closer to the upper surface than therear surface. That is, NFC antenna 51 is placed closer to the surface(in the present embodiment, the upper surface) facing the chargingsurface than the charging surface (in the present embodiment, the rearsurface). Consequently, it is possible to dispose NFC antenna 51 apartfrom magnet 30 a in the thickness direction as well.

A side surface to which NFC antennal 51 is placed close and a sidesurface to which secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is placedclose are different. That is, as shown in FIG. 23, NFC antenna 51 isdisposed close to a side surface (a second side surface) facing a sidesurface (a first side surface) to which secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is placed close. In other words, NFC antenna 51 isdisposed closer to the second side surface than the first side surface.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed closer to thefirst side surface than the second side surface. Consequently, it ispossible to dispose NFC antenna 51 farther apart from magnet 30 a in theperpendicular direction of the thickness direction (in the planedirection). The first side surface and the second side surface are notlimited to planes and may be rounded shapes.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is disposed closer to therear surface than the upper surface. That is, since secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is placed close to primary-sidenon-contact charging module 41 during non-contact charging, it ispossible to receive a large number of magnetic fluxes and suppressdeterioration in efficiency of non-contact charging.

In the case of the present embodiment, the two plane coils(secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53) are disposed to be substantiallyparallel to each other. Therefore, since the directions of magneticfields of the two plane coils are the same, one coil can easily combinemagnetic fluxes of the other coil. For this reason, even if the twoplane coils are disposed not to overlap, the two plane coils arepreferably disposed apart from each other.

Therefore, since portable terminal apparatus 100 in the presentembodiment is configured as shown in FIG. 23, secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are disposed apart from eachother. Consequently, it is possible to suppress secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 from interfering witheach other.

In FIG. 24, NFC antenna 51 in FIG. 23 faces the opposite direction. Inthis way, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 do not have to be stacked. Secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 mayface each other on different surfaces. In this case, secondary-side coil2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 faces the rearsurface and coil 53 of NFC antenna 51 faces the upper surface (thecommunication surface). The upper surface and the lower surface faceeach other. A display section may be provided on the upper surface. Inthis way, it is possible to vary the directions in which magnetic fluxesof secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aregenerated. For this reason, it is possible to further suppress adverseeffects of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51. That is, during communication of one of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 51, the other can less easily capturemagnetic fluxes for the communication.

By directing the communication direction and the charging direction tothe same surface as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, it is possible to directthe charging direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and the communication direction of NFC antenna 51 to the same surfaceand improve convenience of communication apparatus 100. Further, byproviding the display section avoiding the charging direction or thecommunication direction, it is possible to easily operate thecommunication apparatus even during charging or during communication.

Embodiment 10

Embodiment 10 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 25 to 27.Members including components and functions same as those in Embodiments1 to 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals and signs and detaileddescription of the members is omitted.

When secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51are disposed not to overlap (not to be stacked), an end ofsecondary-side coil 2 b close to coil 53 tends to combine magneticfluxes around the NFC antenna. An end of coil 53 close to secondary-sidecoil 2 b tends to combine magnetic fluxes around secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. For this reason, the end of one coil ispreferably disposed or formed to reduce a portion close to the end ofthe other coil. Therefore, in the present embodiment, preferred shapesand arrangement of secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 will bedescribed.

First, a first example will be described with reference to FIG. 25. FIG.25 is a diagram showing a first example of a coil shape in an embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 25 is also a top view of portableterminal apparatus 100.

As shown in FIG. 25, since secondary-side coil 2 b has a circular shape,a portion close to coil 53 is reduced. Consequently, it is possible tosuppress combination of magnetic fluxes.

Coil 53 may have a circular shape. The coils of non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NEC antenna 51 preferably have circular shapes. However,by forming at least the coil of one of the modules in a circular shape,it is possible to reduce the portion close to the other coil. Even ifone coil does not have a circular shape, the other coil side of the onecoil merely has to be formed in a curved shape.

Next, FIG. 26 will be described. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing a secondexample of the coil shape in the embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 26 is also a top view of portable terminal apparatus 100.

As shown in FIG. 26, secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 have polygonalshapes. Coil 53 is disposed such that a corner is close tosecondary-side coil 2 b. That is, sides close (adjacent) to each otherof secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 formed in the polygonal shapesare not parallel. Consequently, since a portion of coil 53 close tosecondary-side coil 2 b is reduced, it is possible to suppresscombination of magnetic fluxes.

A corner of secondary-side coil 2 b may be disposed close to coil 53.The coils of non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 arepreferably disposed such that the corners are close to each other.However, at least the corner of the coil of one module merely has to bedisposed close to the coil of the other module.

Next, FIG. 27 will be described. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a thirdexample of the coil shape in the embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 27 is also a top view of portable terminal apparatus 100.

As shown in FIG. 27, secondary-side coil 2 b and coil 53 have polygonalshapes. Coil 53 is not formed such that all the sides have the samelength and is disposed such that a shortest side is close tosecondary-side coil 2 b. Consequently, since a portion of coil 53 closeto secondary-side coil 2 b is reduced, it is possible to suppresscombination of magnetic fluxes.

Secondary-side coil 2 b may be formed by sides having different lengthsand disposed such that a shortest side is close to coil 53. Naturally,the coils are preferably disposed such that the shortest sides are closeto each other. However, the coils merely have to be disposed such thatat least the shortest side of the coil of at least one module is placedclose to the coil of the other module.

The side of one coil placed close to the other coil is preferably theshortest side. However, the side of the one coil placed close to theother merely has to be not a longest side. For example, when the onecoil has a first side and a second side shorter than the first side, theone coil only has to be disposed such that the second side is placedcloser to the other coil than the first side.

As described above, by reducing the portion of the end of the one coilclose to the end of the other coil, it is possible to suppresscombination of magnetic fluxes. Therefore, it is possible to suppresssecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 frominterfering with each other.

The shapes of the hollow portions of primary-side coil 2 a,secondary-side coil 2 b, and coil 53 are not specifically limited andmay be any shape such as an annular shape (a circular shape), anelliptical shape, a rectangular shape, or a polygonal shape.

The coil shapes of the first to third examples can be combined asappropriate. Embodiments 1 to 10 can be combined as appropriate.

Embodiment 11

Embodiment 11 will be described below concerning a magnetic fieldgenerated by an NFC antenna (a stick type) with reference to FIG. 28.FIG. 28 is a conceptual diagram showing lines of magnetic forcegenerated from the NFC antenna and the secondary-side non-contactcharging module shown in FIG. 15. FIG. 29 is a diagram showing apositional relation between an NFC antenna and a metal plate in anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 28 is also a diagramconceptually showing a cross section of portable terminal apparatus 100shown in FIGS. 1A to 1D cut in the thickness direction (the stackdirection of lower housing 105 a and upper housing 105 b). Membersincluding components and functions same as those in Embodiments 1 to 10are denoted by the same reference numerals and signs and detaileddescription of the members is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 28, NFC antenna 151 in the present embodiment includescoil section 152 and a metal body (e.g., in the present embodiment,substrate 103 is the metal body) disposed close to coil section 152. Anopening portion of coil section 152 is perpendicular to substrate 103.Coil section 152 is disposed at an end of substrate 103.

NFC antenna 151 projects further than outermost end A₄ of substrate 103in some case and NFC antenna 151 is located further on the inner sidethan outermost end A₄ of substrate 103 in other cases. Preferably, asdescribed below, distance d₃ between outer side end 151 x of NFC antenna151 and outermost end A₄ of substrate 103 is about −8 mm to +8 mm. Inthe present embodiment, d₃ is about −2 mm. A minus value of d₃ indicatesthat outer side end 151 x of NFC antenna 151 is located further on theinner side than outermost end A₄ of substrate 103 and, in this case,further on the inner side by 2 cm. Conversely, a plus value of d₃indicates that outer side end 151 x of NFC antenna 151 projects furtherto the outer side than outermost end A₄ of substrate 103. Therefore,when distance d₃ is in a range of about −8 mm to +8 mm, since the widthof NFC antenna 151 (width between outer side end 151 x and inner sideend 151 y) is 8 mm as described above, the range includes a range from aplace where inner side end 151 y of NFC antenna 151 is disposed in theposition of outermost end A₄ of substrate 103 to a place where outerside end 151 x of NFC antenna 151 is disposed on the inner side by 8 mm(substantially the same as the width of NFC antenna 151 (the widthbetween outer side end 151 x and inner side end 151 y)) from outermostend A₄ of substrate 103.

As shown in FIG. 28, when NEC antenna 151 is used, since thecommunication directions of secondary-side non-contact charging module42 and NFC antenna 151 can be varied, the problems described above lesseasily occurs. As a result, secondary-side non-contact charging module42 and NFC antenna 151 can perform satisfactory communication (that is,power transmission) with each other.

First, it will be described how NEC antenna 151 of the present inventionperforms near field communication.

An electric current flows to NFC antenna 151 according to signals inputto antenna input and output terminals 154 and 155. Since an openingportion of NFC antenna 151 is perpendicular to substrate 103, in aregion B₃, lines of magnetic force generated from NFC antenna 151 aregenerated in one direction away from NFC antenna 151. That is, the axisof the opening portion extends toward the region B₃. As a result, thelines of magnetic force in one direction act on, for example, anon-contact IC card located in the region B₃. An electric current isgenerated in the non-contact IC card. A portable terminal or the likemounted with an antenna apparatus in the present embodiment and thenon-contact IC card can perform communication.

In a region A3, lines of magnetic force extend in one direction of adirection away from NFC antenna 151 and a direction toward NFC antenna151. Since magnetic field 8 generated from NFC antenna 151 attenuatesnear substrate 103, axis X of magnetic field 8 is not perpendicular tosubstrate 103 and tilted to the outer side of substrate 103. Axis X ofmagnetic field 8 is a straight line connecting boundaries of the linesof magnetic force in the direction away from NFC antenna 151 and thelines of magnetic force in the direction toward NFC antenna 151.Therefore, when, for example, the non-contact IC card is located nearaxis X of magnetic field 8, both the lines of magnetic force in thedirection away from the antenna and the direction toward the antenna acton, for example, the non-contact IC card. As a result, since the linesof magnetic force cancel each other, the non-contact IC card cannotcommunicate with the portable terminal or the like mounted with theantenna apparatus in the present embodiment. However, when the lines ofmagnetic force are generated as shown in FIG. 28, axis X of magneticfluxes tilts. For this reason, near field communication can be performedin the same direction (region A₃) as NFC sheet antenna 151. Moreover,the axis of the opening portion of NFC antenna 151 can be set in adirection different from the direction of the axis of the openingportion of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Further,likewise, in the direction of the region B₃, NFC antenna 151 can performcommunication.

Next, it will be described why axis X of magnetic field 8 tilts withrespect to substrate 103. That is, an eddy current induced on thesubstrate 103 surface generates a magnetic field in the directionperpendicular to the substrate 103 surface. Therefore, a magnetic fieldgenerated from NFC antenna 151 and the magnetic field generated from theeddy current induced on the substrate 103 surface are combined. As aresult, magnetic field 8 generated from NFC antenna 151 changes to theperpendicular direction near substrate 103. Axis X of magnetic field 8tilts to a side away from substrate 103.

Since NFC antenna 151 is disposed at the end of substrate 103, it ispossible to attenuate a magnetic field on the substrate 103 side (theright side in FIG. 3) of NFC antenna 151 and relatively intensify amagnetic field on a side (the left side in FIG. 3) of NFC antenna 151away from substrate 103. As a result, it is possible to tilt axis X ofmagnetic field 8 with respect to substrate 103. In the configuration inthe present embodiment, angle α of axis X of magnetic field 8 tilts atabout 40 to 85 degrees with respect to substrate 103. That is, unlessNFC antenna 151 is disposed at the end of substrate 103, the magneticfield in the direction perpendicular to the substrate 103 surface by theeddy current on the substrate 103 surface decreases. Axis X of magneticfield 8 remains substantially perpendicular to substrate 103. In thatcase, even if communication can be performed in region B₃, communicationcannot be performed in region A₃.

As shown in FIG. 16, distance D₂ between NFC antenna 151 and substrate103 is preferably 0 mm to 8 mm. In FIG. 16, distance d₃ between the endof NFC antenna 151 and the end of substrate 103 is −2 mm. D₂ ispreferably about 0 mm to 12 mm. In particular, when D₂ is 0 mm to 4 mm,axis X of magnetic field 8 can be tilted at angle α as large as 55degrees to 80 degrees. Even if D₂ is 8 mm to 12 mm, axis X can be tiltedat about 85 degrees. This is because, when NFC antenna 151 and substrate103 are too apart from each other, the influence of substrate 103decreases and the force of substrate 103 tilting axis X of magneticfield 8 decreases. The communication distance is affected by the size ofsubstrate 103 as well. As substrate 103 is larger and a side on which anantenna is mounted is longer, the communication distance is longer.

Axis X is tilted at largest angle α of 70 degrees when d₃=+2 mm.However, even if distance d₃ is set large at about d₃=+8 mm, axis X canbe tilted at angle α of 85 degrees. When the position of the end of NFCantenna 151 is excessively on the inner side than the outermost end ofsubstrate 103, magnetic field 8 on the region B₃ side is alsoattenuated, magnetic field 8 of entire NFC antenna 151 is weakened, and,moreover, the magnetic field is attenuated. Therefore, axis X ofmagnetic field 8 becomes nearly perpendicular to substrate 103.Therefore, when d₃=0 mm, angle α is 78 degrees and, when d₃=−8 mm, angleα is 85 degrees.

From above, by locating NFC antenna 151 at the end of substrate 103 (d₃is about −8 mm to +8 mm), it is possible to maximize utilization of theelectric current flowing to substrate 103. The effect of the presentinvention can be obtained if angle α is about 85 degrees. Preferably,angle α is equal to or smaller than 80 degrees.

Since NFC antenna 151 is disposed at the end of substrate 103, it ispossible to attenuate a magnetic field of NFC antenna 151 on the innerside of substrate 103 and relatively intensify a magnetic field of NFCantenna 151 on the outer side of substrate 103. As a result, since it ispossible to tilt axis X of magnetic field 8 with respect to substrate103, irrespective of whether, for example, the non-contact IC card islocated in region A₃ or region B₃, it is possible to performsatisfactory communication.

Substrate 103 is, for example, a substrate in a portable terminal.However, substrate 103 may be another metal body; for example, a batteryor a liquid crystal display panel.

A conductor included in coil section 152 may be configured by a coatedcopper wire or the like. However, the conductor may be an electrodepattern formed on substrate 103. Coil section 152 and core 153 may alsobe configured to be mounted to substrate 103.

Since an end face of NFC antenna 151 parallel to the opening portion ofcoil section 152 and the end of substrate 103 are aligned on onestraight line (d₃=0), it is possible to obtain an antenna apparatus thatcan be easily manufactured.

Since the end face of NFC antenna 151 parallel to the opening portion ofcoil section 152 projects from the end of substrate 103 (d₃ is plus),magnetic field 8 right beside (on the region B₃ side) of substrate 103is intensified.

Since NFC antenna 151 and substrate 103 are disposed in contact witheach other, it is possible to further reduce angle α of axis X ofmagnetic field 8.

Coil section 152 is disposed to be located at the end of substrate 103.Consequently, it is possible to maximize utilization of an electriccurrent flowing to substrate 103. Since a winding direction of a coil ofcoil section 152 is parallel to the end of substrate 103, coil section152 can efficiently pick up an electric current, most of which flows tothe end of substrate 103.

NFC antenna 151, coil section 152, core 153, and antenna input andoutput terminals 154 and 155 are formed on the inner side of housing105. A line of NFC antenna 151 and antenna input and output terminals154 and 155 are formed of a sheet metal or a metal foil tape or formedby printing or the like and are attached to a predetermined place ofhousing 105 by sticking with an adhesive tape, fixing with screws, orthe like. Connection of the line of NFC antenna 151 and coil section 152is performed by contact connection such as a connector or compressionbonding, soldering, welding, or the like. As connection of antenna inputand output terminals 154 and 155 and an IC, contact by pins, connectorconnection, soldering of an electric line, and the like are conceivable.

In FIG. 16, the line of NFC antenna 151 and antenna input and outputterminals 154 and 155 are provided on substrate 103. The lines of NFCantenna 151 and antenna input and output terminals 154 and 155 areconnected by pins to coil section 152 provided in housing 105 to formNFC antenna 151.

Components such as an IC for RF-ID, a matching circuit, an antenna forother frequencies, a camera unit, a speaker, and an RF module aredisposed in a space formed between housing 105 and the substrate. It ispossible to perform satisfactory communication irrespective of whetherthese components and the antenna apparatus, coil sections 152, and core153 are in contact with or apart from each other. In the presentembodiment, the components are disposed in a flat portion of housing105. However, the components can be disposed along a curved surface ofhousing 105 as well.

As described above, when NFC antenna 151 of the present invention isused, even portable terminal apparatus 100 including secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 can perform communication whilesuppressing an adverse effect from primary-side non-contact chargingmodules 41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Further,it is possible to suppress NFC antenna 151 from deteriorating efficiencyof power transmission between primary-side non-contact charging module41 and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Next, a positional relation between secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 151 will be described.

First, the present invention includes secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 (a reception-side non-contact charging module)including secondary-side coil 2 b composed of a wound electrical line,and magnetic sheet 3 b facing secondary-side coil 2 b, and NFC antenna151 located on the surface of substrate 103 and including coil section152 having a pair of opening portions. The pair of opening portions arean opening portion (that is, the other opening portion) at outer sideend 151 x of NFC antenna 151 and an opening portion (one openingportion) at inner side end 151 y of NFC antenna 151. The openingportions of NFC antenna 151 are substantially perpendicular to thesurface of substrate 103. When the opening portions are substantiallyperpendicular to the surface of substrate 103, this means that an anglebetween the opening portions and substrate 103 is 75 to 100 degrees. Thepair of opening portions are disposed such that the one opening portionfaces the center side of substrate 103 and the other opening portionfaces the outer side of substrate 103. That is, NFC antenna 151 isdisposed further on the outer side than the center of substrate 103. Thearea of substrate 103 on the one opening portion side is larger than thearea of substrate 103 on the other opening portion side. As a result, itis possible to tilt the axis of magnetic fluxes with respect tosubstrate 103. The area of substrate 103 on the other opening portionside may be zero. The surface of the opening portion of thesecondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and the surface of the opening portion of coil section 152 of NFCantenna 151 are substantially perpendicular to each other. Consequently,it is possible to vary the direction of magnetic fluxes during powertransmission of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and thedirection of magnetic fluxes during communication of NFC antenna 151.Consequently, it is possible to suppress NFC antenna 151 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 from adversely affectingeach other. Further, similar to the sheet antenna in the past, it isalso possible to form the power transmission surface of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and the communication surface of NFCantenna 151 as the same surface (the upper side of FIG. 28 is thecommunication surface). Further, compared with the case where an NFCantenna is configured by a sheet antenna, since secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151 can be physicallyplaced apart from each other, it is possible to reduce the mutualinfluence of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 151. Further, since NFC antenna 151 can perform communication intwo directions, communication of NFC antenna 151 can be easily performedeven when portable terminal apparatus (communication apparatus) 100 isplaced on non-contact charger 400 mounted with primary-side non-contactcharging module 41.

FIGS. 30A and 30B are diagrams showing arrangement in a housing of thesecondary-side non-contact charging module and the NFC antenna in theembodiment of the present invention.

In the pair of opening portions of NFC antenna 151, the one openingportion facing the center side of substrate 103 faces reception-sidenon-contact charging module 42. That is, the one opening portion isdisposed as shown in FIG. 30A. Consequently, since communication of NFCantenna 151 can be performed in a direction opposite to the direction inwhich secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is located, it ispossible to further reduce the mutual influence of NFC antenna 151 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Further, the present invention that includes housing 105 including asubstantially rectangular bottom surface is provided in whichsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151 arehoused. Since the bottom surface has the substantially rectangularshape, corners of the bottom surface may be rounded or the bottomsurface may have a little unevenness. The other opening portion facingthe outer side of substrate 103 faces housing end side 105 d among thefour sides of the substantially rectangular bottom surface.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is located further on thehousing end side 105 f side than the center of the substantiallyrectangular bottom surface. By adopting such arrangement, it is possibleto dispose NFC antenna 151 and secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 most apart from each other. As a result, it is possible toreduce the mutual influence of NFC antenna 151 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 30B, the other opening portion facingthe outer side of substrate 103 faces housing end side 105 e among thefour sides of the substantially rectangular bottom surface.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is located further on thehousing end side 105 f side than the center of the substantiallyrectangular bottom surface. Housing end side 105 e and housing end side105 f are in a perpendicular relation. By adopting such arrangement,since magnetic fluxes generated by NFC antenna 151 during communicationdo not reach the secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 side, itis possible to further reduce the mutual influence of NFC antenna 151and secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. That is,secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is absent on an extendedline in the communication direction of NFC antenna 151. NFC antenna 151is absent on an extended line of power transmission of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42. Therefore, further, it is possible tovary the communication direction of NFC antenna 151 and the powertransmission direction of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42.

Further, as shown in FIG. 28, the present invention includes substrate103 (in the present embodiment, a metal body) for controlling portableterminal apparatus 100. Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 151 are disposed on the same surface side of substrate103 in housing 105. In FIG. 28, both of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and NFC antenna 151 are disposed on the upper side ofsubstrate 103. Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 151 may be disposed on the opposite side. However, by disposingsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151 on thesame side, it is possible to reduce the seize while minimizing adverseeffects of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna151. Further, the power transmission surface of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and the communication surface of NFCantenna 151 can be integrated on, for example, the upper side in FIG.28. By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 151 on the respective surfaces of substrate 103, since substrate103 is located between NFC antenna 151 and secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42, it is possible to suppress adverse effects ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151.

When primary-side non-contact charging module 41 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 are aligned, it is possible to reducedeterioration in accuracy of the aligning due to NFC antenna 151. In thepresent invention, NFC antenna 151 is mounted as a method of near fieldcommunication. Therefore, it is possible to maintain aligning accuracybetween the non-contact charging modules. That is, when viewed fromprimary-side non-contact charging module 41, it is easy to distinguishsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151. Onereason for this is that the opening surfaces of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 151 are directed to thedifferent directions.

Further, core 153 is not exposed in a large area in NFC antenna 151.Therefore, it is possible to reduce a decrease in permeability due tothe magnet. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the possibility offluctuation in the L value than in NFC sheet antenna 51.

Embodiment 12

In the present embodiment, it will be described how secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 (the sheet antenna) orNFC antenna 151 (the stick type) described in Embodiments 1 to 11 aredisposed in a portable terminal. FIG. 31 is a diagram showing thearrangement of a secondary-side non-contact charging module and an NFCantenna in the present embodiment.

First, a portable terminal including NFC antenna 51 (the sheet antenna)will be described. In housing 105, secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and NFC antenna 51 are mainly disposed in region P, region Q,or region R in FIG. 31. In region P, secondary-side coil 2 b or/and coil53 are wound around camera module 106. In region Q, secondary-side coil2 b or/and coil 53 are disposed between camera module 106 and batterypack 104. In region R, secondary-side coil 2 b or/and coil 53 arestacked in battery pack 104. The arrangement is not limited to the abovealone. However, these components will be described below. In FIG. 31,substrate 103 and battery pack 104 are not stacked. However, substrate103 may be extended to the battery pack 104 side and stacked on batterypack 104.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or/and NFCantenna 51 in region P, since the hollow portion of secondary-side coil2 b of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is not formed as adead space, it is possible to reduce the size of entire portableterminal apparatus 100. Since the size of the external shape ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or/and NFC antenna 51 isnot limited by a camera, it is possible to increase the sizes of theopening portions.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or/and NFCantenna 51 in region Q, it is possible to reduce the size of entireportable terminal apparatus 100 while maintaining the efficiency ofsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or/and NFC antenna 51.That is, camera module 106 is a metal body viewed from secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51. That is, an eddycurrent is sometimes caused in a direction in which power transmission(communication) of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 is hindered. In general, battery pack 104 is thicker thansubstrate 103. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the entirethickness by stacking substrate 103 and secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 or/and NFC antenna 51.

By disposing secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 in region R,it is possible to simplify and facilitate connection of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and battery pack 104. By disposing NFCantenna 51 in region R, it is possible to effectively utilize the spacein housing 105. That is, since NFC antenna 51 is extremely thin comparedwith secondary-side non-contact charging module 42, an increase inthickness is not difficult even if NFC antenna 51 is stacked on batterypack 104. Therefore, it is possible to dispose NFC antenna 51 in a smallgap between housing 105 and battery pack 104. In general, an occupancyratio of battery pack 104 in housing 105 is fairly large, it is possibleto configure secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 or/and NFCantenna 51 large.

Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 aredisposed in region R, region Q, or region P as appropriate.Secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NEC antenna 51 may bestacked or may not be stacked each other. Therefore, at least ninepatterns of arrangement are conceivable from at least three patterns ofarrangement places of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 andat least three patterns of arrangement places of NFC antenna 51. Therespective arrangement patterns are as explained in Embodiments 1 to 10.That is, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna51 may be stacked in any one of region R, region Q, and region P, or,when not stacked, each of secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 is disposed in one place of any one of region R,region Q, and region P. However, when not stacked, from a relation thatNFC antenna 51 is thin compared with secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 and battery pack 104 is thick compared with substrate 103, itis desirable to dispose secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 onthe substrate 103 side and dispose NFC antenna 51 on the battery pack104 side. When secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 are stacked, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42and NFC antenna 51 can be reduced in thickness when secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and NFC antenna 51 are disposed on thesubstrate 103 side. For example, it is also possible that only NFCantenna 51 is wound around camera module 106 and secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is not wound around camera module 106.

Next, joining of secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 and lower housing 105 a in directly opposing andfixing secondary-side coil 2 b and lower housing 105 a will bedescribed. FIGS. 32A to 32C are diagrams showing the lower housing andthe secondary-side non-contact charging module in the presentembodiment. FIGS. 33A and 33B are diagrams showing the lower housing,the camera module, and the secondary-side non-contact charging module inthe present embodiment.

In FIG. 32A, in secondary-side non-contact charging module 42,secondary-side coil 2 b directly faces lower housing 105 a and theperipheral ends of secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b is fixed to lowerhousing 105 a to cover secondary-side coil 2 b. In lower housing 105 a,a portion facing a winding portion of secondary-side coil 2 b is formedthin and a portion facing the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 bis formed thick. As shown in FIG. 32B, a convex portion of the portionfacing the hollow portion of secondary-side coil 2 b may be formed to bethicker than the other portions of lower housing 105 a. As shown in FIG.32C, the convex portion of the portion facing the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b may be formed to have the same thickness as theother portions of lower housing 105 a. By adopting such a configuration,the convex portion of the portion facing the hollow portion ofsecondary-side coil 2 b and secondary-side magnetic sheet 3 b are incontact and more firmly fixed to each other. By forming the convexportion, it is possible to improve the strength of lower housing 105 apartially reduced in thickness. By forming the portion facing thewinding portion of secondary-side coil 2 b thin in lower housing 105 a,it is possible to place secondary-side coil 2 b of secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 and primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 closer to each other and improve efficiency of non-contactcharging.

When secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is wound aroundcamera module 106 as shown in FIG. 33A, it is desirable to house atleast a part of secondary-side coil 2 b in a convex portion formedaround camera module 106 as shown in FIG. 33B. The periphery of cameramodule 106 is sometimes formed in a shape projected to the outer side toenable a user to recognize the position of camera module 106 with afinger. Therefore, if at least a part of secondary-side coil 2 b ishoused in the convex portion formed around camera module 106, it ispossible to effectively utilized unused space, leading to a reduction inthe size of entire portable terminal apparatus 100. Since camera module106 and battery pack 104 respectively have large thickness, cameramodule 106 and battery pack 104 are not stacked on each other.Therefore, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is not stackedon battery pack 104, leading to a reduction in the thickness of entireportable terminal apparatus 100.

When secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 is fixed to lowerhousing 105 a and separated from substrate 103, connection of substrate103 and secondary-side coil 2 b is performed by, for example, a pin or aspring. That is, a conductive pin, spring, or the like is erected fromthe substrate 103 side toward the lower housing 105 a side and the pinor the spring is set in contact with or connected to a terminal ofsecondary-side coil 2 b, whereby substrate 103 and secondary-side coil 2b are electrically connected.

Further, when secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 and NFCantenna 51 are not stacked, a part of lower housing 105 a facingsecondary-side coil 2 b is formed thinner than another part of lowerhousing 105 a facing coil 53. Since secondary-side non-contact chargingmodule 42 performs power transmission of a large electric current, it isimportant to place secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 asclose as possible to primary-side non-contact charging module 41.Meanwhile, NFC antenna 51 performs low power communication at a distancelonger than the distance of non-contact charging. Therefore, unlikesecondary-side non-contact charging module 42, it is unnecessary toplace NFC antenna 51 close to the lower housing 105 a side. As a result,by forming the part of lower housing 105 a facing secondary-side coil 2b thinner than other part of lower housing 105 a facing coil 53, it ispossible to place secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 close toprimary-side non-contact charging module 41 while securing the strengthof lower housing 105 a.

It is desirable to dispose, for example, a heat diffusion sheetcontaining graphite as a material between substrate 103 andsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. Consequently, it ispossible to prevent heat generated by secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 from being transferred to only a portion of substrate103 close to secondary-side non-contact charging module 42. As a result,it is possible to prevent the heat from being transferred to only a partof the components.

Antennas other than an antenna for NFC communication mounted withinportable terminal apparatus 100 are desirably not stacked onsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42. This is because the otherantennas are highly likely to be driven during non-contact chargingcompared with the antenna for NFC communication. Since the NFCcommunication uses electromagnetic induction, a communicationcounterpart and the communication surface of portable terminal apparatus100 need to face each other at a relatively short distance. Meanwhile,since the other antennas adopt other systems, the other antennas caneasily perform communication even during charging. As a result, it islikely that communication is started during charging. However,non-contact charger 400 mounted with primary-side non-contact chargingmodule 41 is highly likely to include metal of large size. The metal innon-contact charger 400 is highly likely to adversely affect the otherantennas in portable terminal apparatus 100. Therefore, in portableterminal apparatus 100, secondary-side non-contact charging module 42 isdesirable not to be stacked on the components other than NFC antenna 51.In portable terminal apparatus 100, since secondary-side non-contactcharging module 42 is basically disposed on non-contact charger 400 toface primary-side non-contact charging module 41, secondary-sidenon-contact charging module 42 is placed closest to non-contact charger400. Therefore, since the other antennas are not stacked onsecondary-side non-contact charging module 42, it is possible to placethe other antennas apart from the metal components in non-contactcharger 400. As a result, it is possible to suppress the influence ofthe metal components.

Embodiment 12 can be combined with Embodiments 1 to 11 as appropriate.

All the disclosed contents of the specifications, the drawings, and theabstracts included in Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-188413 filedon Aug. 31, 2011, Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-155334 filed onJul. 14, 2011, Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-154555 filed on Jul.13, 2011, Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-154554 filed on Jul. 13,2011, Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-154550 filed on Jul. 13,2011, Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-131948 filed on Jun. 14,2011, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-131950 filed on Jun. 14,2011 are incorporated in this application.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the present invention, the communication apparatus isuseful for a communication apparatus including non-contact chargingmodules and a sheet antenna, in particular, various electronicapparatuses such as a cellular phone, a portable audio apparatus, apersonal computer, a digital camera, and a video camera, which areportable apparatuses, a motorcycle, an automobile, and the like.

REFERENCE SINGS LIST

-   2 a Primary-side coil-   2 b Secondary-side coil-   2 ba, 2 bb Sectional portions-   3 a Primary-side magnetic sheet-   3 b Secondary-side magnetic sheet-   21 a Coil (primary side)-   21 b Coil (secondary side)-   22 a, 23 a Terminals (primary side)-   22 b, 23 b Terminals (secondary side)-   30 a Magnet (primary side)-   30 b Magnet (secondary side)-   31 a Flat portion (primary side)-   31 b Flat portion (secondary side)-   32 a Center portion (primary side)-   32 b Center portion (secondary side)-   33 a Liner concave portion (primary side)-   33 b Linear concave portion (secondary side)-   34 a Slit (primary side)-   34 b Slit (secondary side)-   41 Primary-side non-contact charging module (transmission-side    non-contact charging module)-   42 Secondary-side non-contact charging module (reception-side    non-contact charging module)-   51 NFC antenna-   52 Magnetic sheet-   53 Coil-   53 a, 53 b Sectional portion-   54 Matching circuit-   55 Terminal connecting section-   56 Base material-   57, 58 Protective members-   60 a, 60 b Chip capacitors-   71 Power input section-   72 Rectifying circuit-   82 Power output section-   100 Portable terminal apparatus-   101 Liquid crystal panel-   102 Operation button-   103 Substrate-   104 Battery pack-   105 Housing-   211 Inner side portion (primary side)-   212 Inner side portion (secondary side)-   300 Commercial power supply-   301 Outlet-   400 Non-contact charger-   401 Plug-   402 Charging surface-   501 Desk

1. A communication apparatus comprising: a housing; a non-contactcharging module housed in the housing and configured to receive electricpower through electromagnetic induction, the non-contact charging moduleincluding a first coil comprised of a wound electrical line and a firstmagnetic sheet facing the first coil; and a sheet antenna housed in thehousing and including a second coil comprised of a wound electrical lineand a second magnetic sheet facing the second coil, wherein thenon-contact charging module and the sheet antenna are not stacked. 2-34.(canceled)